Hello,
Welcome back to Press Pause, a newsletter about the things that bring us joy. I hope this week has been kind to you.
Today, Elise Hassan reflects on her experience playing “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”, a videogame developed by Nintendo for the Switch console. The game set off a global craze in March, so I’m fairly certain you’ve come across images of New Horizons’ island life on social media at some point in the past weeks.
Finally, a gentle reminder to get in touch if you wish to share what inspired you to take a break and how you pressed pause with our community.
Shirin x
Released on the 20th March 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons could not have arrived at a better time. Never has a game been so needed or wanted, ‘needed’ being the key word here. This has everything to do with what this game encapsulates. Animal Crossing is entirely calming and all round lovely game. You won’t find violence, guns or zombie killing, but a world, or in this case your own little deserted island, where you are simply tasked with helping it flourish. With many people having to social distance and isolate themselves, Animal Crossing provides an outdoor, nature-filled oasis that allows people to escape from the highly strung, stressed and anxiety-ridden world we are all currently living in.
Each island is filled with bugs, fish and fossils that you can catch and collect with hand crafted tools to fill the island’s museum. Spend your days running around the island, exploring every ‘Nook’ and cranny filled with trees and flowers, collecting material such as wood and stone to craft equipment and new buildings for your island AND — one of the things I love the most — creating your own little house and decorating it anyway you like with wallpaper and furniture from the shop. One of Animal Crossing’s highlights is being able to customise and be as creative as you like with your home, the way you look (your clothes!!) and what your island looks like. Let’s not forget the characters you will meet, such as good old Tom Nook, and the residents that will eventually move into your growing island, some of whom can be very rude and cheeky, which never fails to make me laugh. Something that I especially love about Animal Crossing is its pace. It’s not a game that you will find yourself playing for hours and hours on end, trying to ‘complete’ it like a traditional one. The day and time match real life’s and each day you follow a little routine, completing little tasks; once you have finished there is not much else to do until the following day.
With everything that’s been happening, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has allowed me to press pause. In the middle of a global crisis, losing my much loved cat, having to stop working and worrying endlessly about the livelihood of my family all at the same time, Animal Crossing has been something that has personally brought me so much joy and distraction. Having something nice to do that doesn’t involve having to be overly productive, or writing that ground-breaking novel that you feel like you should be finally writing, or even completing all those house chores you’ve put off for years and now suddenly find yourself with the time to be able to get done. Sometimes self-care means not doing any of those things and instead playing a video game. As a society we are constantly taught to get up off our bums and be consistently working on something and being productive at all times, but now, whilst living through unprecedented times, it is about sitting down and taking a deep breath and allowing yourself to do the things that make you happy without an ounce of guilt. Take a break from watching the news, scrolling through Twitter and being inundated with bad news. Whatever it takes to help you to press pause and get through this moment. You deserve it.
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