Santi Leguiza's Year in Games | Winter Spectacular 2020
This year was difficult, to say the least. As conversations around what the GOTY might be finally ending and we get near the end of 2020, I couldn’t help but reflect on my year in games. Not just the games I played, but what they left behind.
Honestly the lack of social distancing in the picture is wigging me out.
Fear and Calm
March 19th. My country officially started lockdown. The uncertainty about our future, the misinformation, and the raw, animal fear that the pandemic brings with it terrorised everyone. That’s exactly the situation we were in when Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrived in my life, which of course, is one of the most ridiculous ironies, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. From collecting butterflies to crafting furniture of different colours and going through the many interactions with my fellow island residents, this game offered the kind of comfort and calm that literally nothing else on the entire planet could bring at the time. For that, I will always be grateful for the sweet respite it offered for me and many others.
Love at a Safe Distance
It was near the end of April when I started a relationship with my girlfriend. This was marked by the impossibility of physically meeting, and workarounds we needed to figure out in order to keep in touch and do things together. Was Final Fantasy XIV the game that saved our bacon in that regard, she showed me the ropes and I’ve been playing ever since, including several successful and not-so-successful dates, and even a marriage ceremony. The memories I share with her playing together has given this game a special place in my heart, even if she made me jump off a cliff once and I died. It’s ok though, I let her die plenty of times while I was still learning to tank.
I’m going to leave the link to Ooblets’ Early Access trailer here because it’s kinda a trippy nightmare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwc2scSv8uY&ab_channel=Ooblets
Wholesome Dancing
Six months into lockdown and every interaction in social media already looked like nitroglycerine meeting a torch. Moods were bad, tensions were high and relationships overall got muddied, strained, or even ruined. But there was light beneath all that darkness, or maybe it was just Ooblets having fun? In the wholesome vegan universe of Ooblets, the titular creatures solve their problems by having funny dance competitions, completing different quests, and tending to our farms Eventually turning everyday routines into a pleasant adventure with all kinds of gentle characters to meet, help, and befriend, whether they’re ooblets or NPCs. Almost as a reflection of real life, all these characters are just trying to work their way through life, and nobody could ever ask more of them. Ooblets reminds us maybe there isn’t much to do about our situation, other than try to endure these rough days in the most peaceful way we can.
Zag is so hot… because he’s in the underworld.
Persistence Under Pressure
And yet, despite video game’s best efforts, I couldn’t help but feel stuck and defeated in terms of professional growth. The difficulties of working for a foreign industry with just a small amount of experience, within an economy as delicate as this, in a situation like a pandemic is all a lot to have to face. And as such this was my mindset when I started playing Hades. It wasn’t just the wonderful gameplay, the aesthetics, or even the way it redefined an entire genre, but the way the game encouraged and motivated me to persist. Beating it never became a chore, it was something I desperately wanted to do, and that is what I loved most about this game. As Zag kept fighting his way through hell in order to leave it, I kept fighting against my own fears and anxiety in order to grow both as a writer and as a person. A never-ending fight, for sure, but one worthy of being tackled, nonetheless.
This game looks stunningly beautiful.
Working on Letting Go of My Past
It’s November now, and I feel like we were in 2020 for the last 2020 years. The tiredness, the problems, the people who are still here, the ones who aren’t anymore. The weight of it all crushed my mind as I started playing an indie game called When the Past was Around. As entertaining as this puzzle-solving game is, the nostalgia instilled throughout the gameplay and the protagonist’s flashbacks represented very accurately how I feel after a year that changed so many things and took so many more away. It was only after finishing it that I realised how glad I am that I have experienced all these things, and meeting all the people I’ve met, whether they remain in my life or not. And honestly, I feel more ready than ever to face whatever comes next.
Times like these bring a lot of feelings to the surface, but as difficult as life can be right now, I hope y’all can end your year as best as you can, all things considered. And even if life right now looks grim and mostly negative, just keep in mind that you’re not the only one going through it, which also means you’re not alone. Everybody is doing the same, and we should try being a little more conscious of that. Because it’s through unity and lifting each other up, and not antagonizing people for petty reasons, that we’ll be able to survive this. Call me overtly-optimistic, but that’s all I have. Happy Holidays.
