Everyone has those games they can’t put down, but should have years ago. Mine is Subset Games’ FTL. Steam tells me I’ve spent 175 hours in-game, and I vividly remember some of them were while I was supposed to be working in a publication’s Manhattan office, plying its starfields when I should have been digging up stories. Where would I be if I’d invested ten, fifty, a hundred of those hours pursuing goals I’d put aside for the quick fix of another run?
I haven’t played this game, but something about how it’s characterized in this piece reminded me hard of Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Maybe this idea of existing in a space that should feel fantastical and the desire to return to a quickly fading reality, and about how work and assigned roles play into that.
I’ve been playing this since it got added to game pass this month & it’s…interesting. Not quite far enough yet to understand the bulk of the systems but I’m enjoying poking around them, really interested to find out how the autopsy table actually works soon hopefully.
(Also my advice for starting out in it would be to try and repair the bridge to the west asap, means you don’t spend all your limited funds on nails and metal parts)