Here's the reason we haven't played anything else this year! We actually almost put this down and moved on to Disco Elysium--TWICE--only to gret reabsorbed and sinke several more weeks in! We think we're nearing the end now, probably. Hopefully. Something about these games like Obra Dinn and Tunic that just really hit the sweet spot for Denis and I together-games.

Another replay! What a year of nostalgia it has been.

Winter was beautiful, but terribly unkind. In October, I saw Denis sat up in a hospital bed while a doctor said the words "open heart surgery." A month later Trump and our dreams of Raleigh up in smoke with the EPA. Felt like the wheels were coming off the wagon, the two of us just trying to hold it together from inside as the year rattled through its last stops. It held, this time. But somewhere in that fear and worry I reached for something old and familiar, and it came up Paper Mario.

This game is like black tea with milk and sugar; it tastes like childhood. I used to boot it up just climb up Shooting Star Summit and watch the pretty purple lights glow and listen to the stars fall and bounce. I would walk around with Parakarry, or Bombette and pretend to have conversations with them. Watch the oinks run around in their pen, almost obsessively.

I loved this game, felt safe and soothed by it as far back as I can remember. The characters, the locations, the cheerful music and humor, even the villains. I wasn't sure how it would hold up all these years later, didn't really expect it to, but we had a good time these Sunday mornings, rescuing the star spirits and saving the princess (and playing the princess!). It was nice to return to this whimsical, kind world. All the better getting to share it with Denis this time.

Late to the party, I know.