was worried that this was something that could only exist and work in a vacuum of what indie games were like in ‘12. distinctively remember my preteen idiot brain not understanding what I saw when I saw like youtubers hype this up. even more so distinctively remember very racist but neoliberal hippy youtubers I used to watch crying at the end of this which I remember thinking was pathetic and after playing it yeah that’s kind of pathetic. not that games can’t affect people in visceral ways but idk stuff like this or the original walking dead season or last of us are so like emblematic of everything wrong with video game discourse of early 2010’s gaming spheres, just reeks of emotional manipulation. it’s a cute ending though! reminds me so much of the ending of Spielberg’s AI that tbh it cheapens it for me and also is closer to plagiarism than homage imo but yeah it’s good lol. and I think the game overall still holds up after a decade of praise, I basically only really knew the ending and that there was a co-op element at play but I played this solo bitch. something about online play for this comes across as so faux twee and like hollow lol. seems like the game has more to say about our connection with the world and the creatures that surround us everyday and how little we are and how little we contribute rather than like the wholesomeness =-)) of playing a game like this with some random stranger which is what the talk of this game has always centered around in. but idk playing this felt meditative and nice and tranquil and I don’t think I would’ve felt that with a stranger playing alongside me. really gorgeous game, the reflection of the sun on the sand, brutal blinding whites in the snow areas, just gorgeous and I’m happy I finally played it so far removed from its era in video game culture and development :3