5th July
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, Bertie puts his feet up and ponders the effect our changing mindsets have on the games we play; Ed finally gets Death Stranding, and finds himself falling for it; and Tom O struggles to pull himself away from Rematch.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
Fantasy Life i, Switch 2
I was wiped out last Sunday. I can’t remember what the contributing factors were but I got midway through the afternoon and just slumped. I struggle doing nothing so I struggle with these moments, but my sandbag body was adamantly not moving so I stretched out on the sofa and reached for something to do. Something to occupy my mind with. So I reached for Fantasy Life i.
It was perfect; in that moment, it was perfect. The Switch 2 in portable mode was the perfect thing to disappear into the corner of a room with, and the gentle, upbeat tone of the game was like a cuddle. The many mechanical facets of Fantasy Life i provided my brain with many different things to glomp onto: a spot of easy-going town planning and house direction, a spot of mindless tree chopping and carpentry, a dash of combat and exploration and some fetch-questing. A buffet for the mind. A seemingly endless table of ideas to keep returning to and snacking on. Until, that is, you are full.
Four hours later, my restorative trance complete, I was full. I put Fantasy Life i down and finished my Sunday, daydreaming about it. I felt quite smug about choosing the exact-right game for the exact-right moment, and decided I would do the same thing if ever I felt the same way again. As luck would have it, if that’s the right way to phrase it, I did feel the same way again a few days later, after a long day of travel, so again, I reached for Fantasy Life i. But my restorative concoction didn’t work. My brain didn’t want it.
I don’t know why this was. Perhaps I wasn’t ready for the same buffet again so soon; perhaps I’d had my fill. Or perhaps I was tired in a different way; maybe my brain needed some actual rest. At a loss, I sat there and stared at the wall for a while, mesmerised by my own indecision – a not unpleasant way to pass the time actually. Ever since, I’ve wondered what was going on.
Do any of you ever experience a similar thing?
-Bertie
Death Stranding 2, PS5
Thirty hours is a long time for a preview, but that’s what we were given by Kojima Productions when I visited the studio ahead of Death Stranding 2’s launch. Now, with the game out properly, I’ve finally got past the point I previously reached at that event. I’ve loved playing it a second time, but I’m even more excited to see what’s new.
This time, though, I’ve really taken my time with the game. I’ve ticked off most of the subrequests for each prepper; collected and delivered a load of lost cargo; and – most importantly – built a substantial road network across the map. Those roads make subsequent deliveries much easier, but more so, it’s just cathartic to trundle around in a vehicle after slogging from place to place on foot. That’s only aided by all the requests and deposits and structures left behind by other players. By slowing down and exploring, I’m really settling into this world, its sci-fi iconography, its pop music. After not enjoying the first game, I finally feel like I get Death Stranding.
Yet I still don’t feel like I’m fully grasping all its options. I remember being overwhelmed by Tears of the Kingdom and all the creativity its building feature provided, when all I did was stick some trees together as a blunt method of solving the majority of puzzles. I’m doing the same here in Death Stranding 2. I could be leaping off ramps and spinning over the world, sliding around on various skateboard equivalents, or exploring other traversal options and shortcuts. Instead, I find myself loading a truck and pootling around the map like an Amazon driver. It’s testament, really, to the options Kojima has provided in the sequel which, for me, adds a ton of depth compared to the original game. I just need to make more of an effort to engage with them.
-Ed
Rematch, PS5 Pro
Maybe I’ll have just one more match. One more game can’t hurt. That episode of 3 Body Problem, a series I’ve decided to watch eons after the buzz around it, can wait. I’ve got people to be infuriated by and decisions to roll my eyes at. Not since my mini-obsession with Vampire Survivors have I felt so utterly compelled to play a game. Rematch, as the kids say (possibly), has the juice.
I’m still, quite frankly, terrible at passing. I’m pretty good at distribution when playing as goalie, and have delivered some absolute peaches to forward-running attackers, but in normal play I tend to whiff a pass off-direction about half the time. I’ll get better. At least I’m trying.
I do wish other players used space more, though. There’s a definite pull towards the ball, so often I’ll do a cheeky backheel into acres of space up the pitch, but no one is anywhere near it, all of my team desperate to be as close to the ball as possible at all moments.
That’s my Rematch update. I can’t stop playing it, I’m still not very good at it, and pretty much everyone I play with is an awful human. But I still say “good job” when they score a goal.
-Tom
