If you’re Millennial or Gen-Z, or a parent to someone who is, you may know of an aardvark with glasses named Arthur (and I only know how to spell aardvark because it was a part of the spelling bee in one of the episodes). The show addressed issues of sibling rivalry, night terrors, classism, feelings of regret, and a whole host of other things that people face every day. My friend and I discussed it a few years ago and we wondered if it would have been the same if the characters were human children instead of aardvarks, bulldogs, bunnies, and rats. We agreed the show wouldn’t be the same if the children were people.
Consider Stardew Valley vs Animal Crossing. Do the animals add to the charm of Animal Crossing? They seem to have very different audiences and the question remains: is it the species of the characters that makes a difference?
Multiplayer
Spiral Slides are for Suckers
I recently picked up Parkitect with my good friend, Realeo, what also has a couple of posts here. The game is everything you want from a park simulator with the thing you didn’t know you did: multiplayer. Building alongside a person-person who is just as clueless as you are about how things work is a joy. It also works well as a quiet group activity at times when your both sweating through figuring out how to finish a ride or why people are not buying your bubble tea. I recently got into diving into the numbers, clicking on each ride and looking at the statistics, and this has led me to a discovery. Spiral Slides are for suckers.
Spiral slides are these cool lighthouse looking rides, where a visitor queues up for the chance to climb to the top and slide down in a spiral to much pixelated joy. But this is no happy lighthouse as it appears. It is a sad lighthouse. It is Nickel Creeks’s Lighthouse. The only thing being dashed against the rocks here though are profits.
Future Nostalgia: It Takes Two
Every so often I play a game that touches something new inside of me and gets me hyped about games all over again. I know that once it happens, I won’t get it in the same way again.
It Takes Two has reached inside of me and grabbed hold of a mix of wonderment and concern. It is mechanically diverse, emotionally gigantic, and overwhelmingly good vibes.
The game only plays as a two player experience, so a partner is mandatory. I think it would be easy to call forced cooperation brave on the part of the developers but I think it was the only choice for the game they wanted to make. I cannot imagine this game being what it is without the two in It Takes Two, and no NPC could fill the space where the party of two are reading each other just as much as the game.
My journey is not yet done, I have not finished the game. It has become our regular meetup a few times a week, my player-two and I, to see what May and Cody will do next. They still have a lot to learn, and so do we.
Welcome
Welcome, dear guest, to Verse and Vermin. I did not want my first post to be just an introduction but an acknowledgement also feels polite. This is my corner where I mix interest and imagination, a bit of what you have read already. If your eyes find anything to like, I hope that you will stick around and say hello. If you yourself have a blog, please share it here.
Thank you, and I hope you have a delightful day.