Cozying up to Another Code

Maybe cozy games get a bad rap because none of us can relax

Do you just ever see a bird and get overtaken with envy? 

After having hung out by the river for long enough, watching many a duck try to paddle against the raging current of the overflowing Milwaukee river after torrential rain the day before, I noticed the movement quickly. Unlike the geese, standing with the flat feet pressed against the riverbed, or the other ducks paddling about, he was moving. 

He was a long mallard, green head glowing in the sun, and his pace was double mine. He zipped by looking incredibly nonchalant and cool. 

“There he goes” I whispered to myself, and then realized that it probably isn’t normal to want to be a duck. It also isn’t the first time. 

He was grace, he was ease. Alone, he used the current instead of trying to force it to his will. Also, he was a duck, he has no reason to be stressed about getting laid off.

Which is to say, I have been trying not to force things so much lately. This goes especially for gaming. When I first got a switch, back before the pandemic, games were just a simple little distraction and something to do with my then-partner.

Now, however, I have fallen hard. I had a year of trying to be a content creator, and the failure hit me hard. I still want to write for games magazines in the same way I still want to be a paid writer and not a barista.

It can be a driving desire, but also a paralyzing one. It can feel a lot like being a duck trying to swim upstream. It’s paralyzing ambition, the kind of ambition that can turn the world into a computer screen, turn art into content, turn life into just another day wasted on something I don’t love.

I find myself staring blankly at empty word documents, trying to force myself to write something worthy of publishing so I can post it on LinkedIn, so I can show the world my words mean something and I am not just wasting my life.

Recently I have also been having trouble getting into Another Code remaster for Switch. Which is strange to me. Trace Memories on the DS was one of my favorite games at the time, finding it at just the point where telling stories about young women and solving mysteries was starting to matter to me even more than fun jumping. I went on to fall in love with the studio’s other game Hotel Dusk as well, with it’s striking art style and compelling story.

So I had way too much invested to give Another Code, based on the European localization instead of America’s Trace Memories, a fair shake. The first game felt a little off to me. I didn’t quite love the new art style, the puzzles did not feel at home on the TV, and the third time wasn’t the charm for the story. I liked it, I was glad to see it back, but it didn’t grab me.

I have never played its sequel, a Wii game exclusive to Europe, that is included in the remaster and boots up just after the first campaign. I expected to be excited, but instead found myself putting it down.

I just couldn’t leave my critical eye behind. No longer just an obscure DS game that slowly hooked me, I found myself wanting more from it. I wanted that old feeling back, perhaps, or I just wanted to connect in a way that I could write about, make a video about, or generally share.

I wanted big stakes and big feelings in the same way I wanted a big career. That’s just not how that second campaign starts though. Instead, it opens on a picnic, an idyllic lake, and some friendly locals. The pace is unhurried, cozy, and looks just like a vacation I would have taken as a kid.

It was something I needed to settle into.

This weekend was focused on shaking off the stress that’s been blotting out my mind and setting my jaw tight like I think that tensing it will fix my jawline. I mostly did this by drinking coffee by various bodies of water while holding my vintage binoculars and staring into the middle distance. combined with some much-needed heavy exercise and indulging in some THC gummies, my first ever watch of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and of course, some gaming time.

I found my footing in this game by reframing expectations. I started playing it in smaller bursts and putting it in handheld mode. Despite my finicky joycons, it felt the most at home on a portable console, despite being a console game originally. It made it feel cozier, lower stakes. Slowly, I found myself enjoying the game. I am not even going to make myself finish the game before I post.

So as winter descends into the windy warmth of spring, I encourage you to swim with the current. Fighting hard is good and noble at times, but too much struggle and you’ll find yourself stuck in a place like a duck on a rapid. Instead, relax, feel the current, and get moving.