My Favourite Games

I used to play games a lot as a kid/teenager, but then I stopped. However, in 2021, I returned to games in a time of dire need, which I talked about in an earlier blog post called Gaming Saved My Life: Notes on Existential Dread and the Freeing Escapism of World of Warcraft. It's quite a mouthful for a title, but it literally sums up the situation.

I will split this Favourite Games list into two parts: the games that raised me - these are the games I played as a kid that had me in thrall and shaped me as a person. The second part is the games that healed me, so these titles have helped me overcome anxiety and offered me a slice of solace and a place to escape.

Part 1 - The Games That Raised Me

The Sims

Every kid born in the 90s has encountered The Sims in one way or another; it’s a canon event. And I am still partial to a sojourn here and there as a 30-year-old woman. I think I have owned (alongside my sisters) every single iteration of the game both on console and PC, which is pretty dedicated.

One of the most formative versions of the game for me was The Urbz Sims in the City. My older sister and I would play this game for hours and hours on our Xbox, and as massive fans of the Black Eyed Peas growing up, it was such a cool crossover for us - we loved the Sims, and they were in it, and so were some of their songs in Simlish.

The Oddworld Games

Which is to say Abe’s Odysee, Abe’s Exodus, Munch’s Odyessy and Strangers Wrath. However, I must say that I was a spectator for many of these games rather than a player, as they scared the hell out of me! I would sit with my older sister and watch her play - way before Twitch was a thing!

And I was quite honestly obsessed with the universe of these games; the world-building was insane, and the storytelling was compelling. Not to mention the character designs, I used to mull over the game manuals, drawing all the different creatures repeatedly.

Halo

Halo was the game of my early teen years. I would come home from school, turn on my Xbox and shoot aliens and weird mutated humans for hours on end.

Though I must say the Swarm did scare the shit out of me, and you would probably be able to hear me halfway down the street screaming when the mutated entities would suddenly pop out of nowhere and give me the biggest of jump scares.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I can confirm that I was not 18 when I started playing this game, which I think is a universal experience for GTA players. I put so many hours into this game as a teenager, and I can confirm that in the words of Édith Piaf, “Non, je ne regrette rien”.

I loved GTA San Andreas for a multitude of reasons: the gameplay, trying to get 5 stars and seeing how long I could last before being annihilated by the military, the random different radio stations that helped to inform my taste in music, and so much more.

Part 2 - The Games That Healed Me

World of Warcraft

For me, Azeroth is a safe space to retreat from the real world. Well, it’s not entirely safe if you try to do dungeons or raids - you can really see the ugly side of people there! But I don’t generally participate in that side of the game; I’m there for the open-world exploration, the story and collecting pets, mounts and transmog.

Most recently, I have been playing The War Within expansion, and I can honestly say that it has been an amazing gaming experience, especially the exploration of Anduin Wrynn’s character and all the trauma the poor guy has been through. Like him healing and getting to know Faerin has been such a wholesome and healing chapter in wow and it has been so nice chilling out and questing in the Hallowfall zone because of this.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Did I buy Baldur’s Gate 3 after seeing the clip of Gale shouting at Tav to stop licking the damn thing (the thing being a giant spider corpse)? Yes, yes, I did. I literally laughed out loud and knew immediately that BG3 would become a new all-time fave game from that dialogue exchange simply because it told me that the writing would be insane - detailed and hilarious but also weird which is very much my kind of vibe.

Let’s just say that BG3 has been life-altering. It made me start to consider that perhaps I would like to work on games—in the narrative department, as I will probably never get to grips with coding. And it has been so cathartic to play such a complex game with beautifully realised characters who have gone through so much but keep on going.

Cyberpunk 2077

As someone who is forever obsessed with Blade Runner and the whole Cyberpunk aesthetic, playing Cyberpunk 2077 was a no-brainer for me. And despite the fact that I’m not really a fan of first-person games, I made an exception for this title purely because of the genre and interesting storyline…and maybe Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition has been my most recent gaming hyperfixation, and I literally got obsessed with the game in the middle of October this year and couldn’t stop playing it except to go to work and go to bed. And despite the game being 10 years old, it really held up well.

What I loved so much about DAI was the party aspect, it felt a little BG3, and I enjoyed that immensely. I also loved the storytelling aspect and the wonderful companions you get to adventure with; I was really intrigued by Solas, and tbh his evolving storyline is also really interesting in Dragon Age: The Veilguard (which I am currently playing the hell out of!)

Italian Cinema: La Chimera review

La Chimera is the latest film by Alice Rohrwacher and stars Josh O'Connor as an archeologist haunted by the past in 1980s Italy.

Spoilers ahead.

In La Chimera, myths are magically realised on screen. Arthur wanders across Italy in search of his lost lover, Benimina. He is the Orpheus to her Eurydice. He plumbs the depths of tombs, raking through dirt on a promise that always remains out of reach. He cannot enter the underworld and reclaim her. Also, it must be noted that in some versions of the myth, Orpheus ties a string around Eurydice’s ring finger to remind her of her love for Orpheus while she is in the underworld. String is, therefore a symbol of memory, of how we are literally tied to one another even after death.

Another famous myth that is brought to mind both literally and figuratively is that of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which Ariadne helps Theseus escape the dangerous labyrinth with a thread. At the close of the film, Arthur is trapped in a collapsed tomb, and it could be suggested that his melancholic disposition throughout the film is a sort of psychological maze that he can finally escape once he finds the red thread that leads him back to Benimina.

The read thread unravelling from Benimina’s knitted dress.

Arthur sees a tunnel of light leading him out of the sealed tomb and towards Benimina. Death?

The film's stock and lighting make it feel like a dream, fable, or fairytale, which is only furthered by the use of magical realism and superstition, such as when Arthur encounters ghosts on a train, how he uses a stick to find treasure and of course the aforementioned allusions to mythology.

The scenes with the Tombaroli (grave robbers) feel like a travelling troupe of clowns or actors (breaking the 4th wall and all!). For much of the film, you want to be near them, to be a part of this community, and to feel the ecstasy of discovering these ancient artefacts right up until the illusion is shattered. This comes when a beautiful ancient temple is discovered underground; as they unseal this sacred place, the air of the 1980s seeps in and destroys the fresco's immaculate colouration, leaving them duller and spoilt. The temple's centrepiece, a mesmerising statue of Artume, is also decapitated, furthering the symbolism of how destructive greed is.

Early scenes of the Tombaroli reach an almost Bachaenalia level of revelry. 

Brutal decapitation of a statue - this desicration shows the true colours of the Tombaroli

October Wrap Up: DNF Intermezzo, playing too much Dragon Age, A Different Man + more

I'm back with more books, movies, and TV shows, but far less than usual because I was addicted to Dragon Age: Inquisition for the entirety of October.

And then it took me a while to get around to filming and editing this video because I’ve been playing too much Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

I also watched a fantastic documentary on Netflix called The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. It’s about Mats Steen, a World of Warcraft player who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It’s a really beautiful tribute to a man who faced a lot but still made time to be genuinely kind and compassionate to those he encountered.

You can help support CureDuchenne here

And if you play WOW and love cute pets, then purchase the Reven pack before January 7th so that the full £17 go straight to CureDuchenne.

September Wrap Up: The Substance, Strange Days and loads of other movies and basically 1 book

I spent most of September watching movies - rather a lot of French movies but also a criminally underrated Cyberpunk movie from the 90s - Strange Days and, of course, the movie everyone is talking about, which is none other than The Substance.

August Wrap Up: Books, Aliens, Jaws + The Rings of Power!

These are all the books I read and the Movies and TV shows I watched in August.

Oh, and I spent an unholy amount of time playing World of Warcraft: The War Within this month—tbh, I spent a lot of time on the pre-expansion event, too.