I never claimed to be normal

Does anyone else remember the animal crossing craze during the pandemic?

People rushed to buy the new animal crossing game and switches. Prices for switches went up significantly. I saved up money for months to buy my non gamer friend a used switch so she could play animal crossing with me. It was the beginning of my dad becoming a gamer (which I very much am in support of!). For me, I was going through a stressful time, and on top of it forced to quarantine – but with animal crossing, the more I played it, the more I could relax and escape from daily stressors because of how calming and wholesome it was.

I’m talking about this right now because I notice something similar happening with the release of the video game Pokopia. The craze is real, and the hype is justified for such a well designed and polished release. It’s an extremely comforting, calming game. It takes you into another world, unlike our own, where it feels like there are more opportunities for growth, positive change, and wholesome moments. Even if it’s just a video game, I feel like it’s really beneficial to experience these things when our daily lives or the state of the world makes them very difficult to experience.

If it feels this fulfilling to have this in a fictional world, imagine how great it could feel in the real world?

Until that happens, I’ll just be over here relaxing while helping my water type pokemon “make it rain” to free a rock type pokemon who is trapped.☕