Only in Dreams

Video games are, for the most part, long, often demanding your attention for dozens of hours. The least you can do is enjoy the time you're spending there.

Every once in a while, though, lightning strikes. A game wiggles into your brain in a way different than all the others. You can't stop thinking about it. You spend time playing it when you could be doing something else. And yet, it's all worth it.

Or is it? What's the driving force behind you spending that time?

Thus, the topic of today's letter series between Rob and Patrick.

Patrick: I talk about this briefly on the podcast this week, but the extent to which Silksong has taken over my life is unique. I’m feeling, as the Fak brothers might say on The Bear, haunted. 

As of this writing, I’m banging my head and fingers against the final boss in Silksong. I’ve made it into the final phase of the boss a few times, which means I’m knocking on the door of putting it all together. But that hasn’t happened yet, but that didn’t stop me from trying over and over again earlier this week, well past my typical bedtime. Worse still, even when I decided to call it, my brain couldn’t turn off what’d just happened. I had stopped working out the boss patterns on my Switch, but my brain was still working through the boss patterns while my eyes were closed.

Sadly, there were no shower thought-esque revelations. I did not crack how to beat the boss while I waited for sleep to arrive. Instead, I mostly thought about how I might be able to sneak a few tries at the boss before dropping my kids off at school. Instead, I briefly slept through my alarm, only to be awoken by my five-year-old asking for assistance with finding a sweatshirt.

Part of why I’m so impressed and taken by Silksong is the rarity at which I find myself unable to escape the gravity of a game. I like a lot of games. I love a lot of games. I recommend a lot of games. I have a good time with a lot of games. Rarely, though, do I feel like I’m being haunted.

It’s a cool feeling, to be clear! It’s the kind of moment that has me going “well, maybe I really should 100% this one?” Even though I won’t. I feel the tug to finish and intend to put this to bed.

I’m trying to remember the last time a game overtook me in the same way and I’m coming up empty. Part of the reason, I think, is because Silksong is so easily digestible in different ways. I can feel accomplished playing the game for five minutes or five hours, which means I’m always in proximity of having during the day to engage with Silksong. But the real reason is probably because Silksong is one of the best video games ever made and I’m swept up in enjoying that.

A very good video game, what a concept.

Do you remember the last time a game noodled its way into your brain and wouldn’t leave?

Rob: Definitely Balatro toward the end of last year and the start of this one. Unlocking every deck and then moving through the challenges was utterly absorbing and I’d find myself thinking about different build strategies when I wasn’t playing it. Imagining ways I could make different Jokers and vouchers work together was something I’d catch myself doing in the shower, washing dishes, or out with the dogs.

A little bit of frustration is such a dangerous thing because nothing gets me hooked on a game like the feeling that a failure was a “close, but no cigar” kind of thing. If I just get clobbered, that’s easy to walk away from. Obviously the game is either too hard for me or I am just a ways away from being in a position to take on its challenges. But if I lose and I feel like I know how I would have won if I’d just done a couple things differently, I’m screwed. I’m not going to be able to rest until I put that theory to the test.