Ian and I were talking the other day about how I was difficult to recommend games to because I was very picky about games. Not only that–it’s difficult even for me to tell what I will and won’t like before playing the game. Well, more what I will like. I am usually very good about knowing what I won’t like, but even in that I can be surprised from time to time. Such as The Surge by Deck13 Interactive. I was expecting it to be trash and to hate it (but I had to try it because it’s a soulslike and it’s in my contract). While the former is mostly true, the latter was not. Maybe it was because I had such low expectations of it, but I quite enjoyed my time with it and finished it–which is more than I can say for the vast majority of soulslikes.
Anyway! Ian joked that it was easy to tell what game I would like–actual Souls games. That made me laugh. He’s not wrong, though, and WHY ISN’T ELDEN RING IN MY HANDS ALREADY??? *Ahem* I keep thinking I’ll like soulslikes, but I…don’t. Or more truthfully, I mostly don’t. There have been a few exceptions, but the ratio is dismal. I’ve tried dozens of soulslikes and have really enjoyed two. The aforementioned The Surge and Salt and Sanctuary by Ska Studios. Having said that, there are qualifiers. I enjoyed The Surge, but it was very much in the vein of ‘this is way better than I thought it’d be so I’m pleasantly surprised’. As for Salt and Sanctuary, it’s a slavish homage to Souls and while I enjoyed playing it, I immediately forgot it once I was done. Ask me to name a single boss in either game and I can’t.
So, yeah. I don’t like soulslikes–I like Souls games. Some people are grumbling that Elden Ring is going to be basically Dark Souls IV. Which, it’s not, but if it were, I’m all over that! I’ve watched the trailer at least a half-dozen times since it dropped and I get stoked every time. I want this to be good sooooooo bad. I’m trying not to get too hyped because I don’t want to be crushingly disappointed, but this game excites me like none other in recent years. I feel for Miyazaki because there is so much pressure on him (well, FromSoft in general, but he IS FromSoft) to produce the perfect game every time. He got almost universal praise for Bloodborne, but there has been some amount of pushback for all his other games*.
He’s now in the impossible position of trying to be everything to everyone. One thing I appreciate about him is that he simply doesn’t seem to give a fuck what others think. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but he’s got a vision and he’s going to enact it, others be damned. Outside Xtra had a video of seven things they wanted in Elden Ring. I understand the impulse, but I just want it to exist and to be able to play it. I trust Miyazaki to make the best game he can possibly make and I’m willing to go along for that ride. This is not me being starry-eyed. There are plenty of things about the games I don’t like, but I respect that he did each game his way. Well, again, from Dark Souls II (Dark Souls was rushed out) on. From what I’ve seen of the second trailer, I’m stoked about Elden Ring. It’s going to be an open world Dark Souls with summons and horses. I’m down with that!
Hm. This has gotten very Elden Ring-y. I didn’t mean to do more than mention it in passing, but it’s…been…so…long….I got the DTs.
Also! Cozy Grove has had a major update. Ian told me about it and I freaked out. There are going to be two more NPC bears. I can now hug the bears. BEST. GAME. EVER! One of the bears has autism (I think) and I was curious if he would hug me. I asked if he wanted a hug and he said, ‘No, thanks’, which is perfect. You can also name your animals! Well, they present you names you can choose from, so not exactly name. The first bird I named is now Auntie Death. Which, let’s be real, should be my nickname. One of the new NPCs is going to show up on Saturdays and offer wigs–which means I can buy my favorite hairstyles and keep them! That was something that bothered me the first time I bought a new haircut. I had looked it up beforehand to see if there was a way of getting my old hairstyle back, but I couldn’t find anything about it. I bought the new haircut and couldn’t find a way to switch back. I asked in Discord and someone confirmed I had to wait and see if it was being sold in Mr. Kit’s store to get it–which meant get lucky.
If that isn’t enough, bugs and insects have been added. You can capture them with a net and sell them to Mr. Kit! Also, open-faced clamshells sitting in the sea around me. You have to skip stones into them to get rewards. There’s now the ability to take the seashells you collect and have one of the bears turn three of one kind into a bigger-sized version that you can use to decorate the island. There are supposed to be more foods and decorations as well. There is also pieces of treasure maps and lore you can find that will add more to the story. There have also been tweaks that make the experience more pleasant.
In other words, there’s a lot of new content! I’m simultaneously loving it and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Because of my OCD traits, I feel I need to do all the things and catch all the critters. Oh, I also met the 16th of the 17 spirit bears and I don’t like him already. That’ll probably change because it happened with another bear buddy as well.
This game is amazing and the devs are terrific. They like all my tweets about their game and even replied to one of them. The devs of Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games) are similarly involved with their community. I’ve been giving some thought as to why cozy sims with gorgeous graphics and a combination of pathos/humor starring animals have moved me so greatly. Three of my favorite non-Souls games are Night in the Woods by Infinite Fall, Spiritfarer by Thunder Lotus Games, and Cozy Grove by Spry Fox. All of them have made me laugh heartily and have tugged at my heartstrings. Both NitW and Spiritfarer have had me sobbing. I haven’t reached that point with Cozy Grove yet, but I’ve definitely had tears in my eyes more than once. Every time I have to help a spirit buddy move on, I literally say out loud, “No, wait, I’m not ready!” And I haven’t had to help my favorite bear yet.
I think it’s because it’s easier to be vulnerable around animals because they’re not human. So I can feel all the feels without worrying about them emotionally hurting me. I think in Spiritfarer and Cozy Grove, it’s also because I’m an outsider (in the game). I’m helping them, but I’m not part of the community. I think it’s also because I’m getting things in snippets and my imagination has to supply most of the details. I’m empathic by nature so it’s easy for me to read between the lines.
I don’t want to gloss over how amazing the games look and how that adds to the atmosphere. Night in the Woods is colorful, but with a tinge of sepia which adds to the melancholy. Spiritfarer is hand-drawn in pastels and truly a work of art. Cozy Grove is not hand-drawn, but it’s digitally drawn with tools that made it look as if it’s done by hand. I know there is the camp that doesn’t care about graphics–it’s all about the gameplay. But with these three games, the gameplay is secondary to story and/or atmosphere so graphics matter a lot.
This also isn’t what I originally intended to write about, but that’s a whole post in and of itself so I’m going to leave this here for now.
*I’m talking about Dark Souls II and on because Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls were before he became a well-known auteur.