CaptainRoph
Novice
I have always been into video games. Dreamcast, Gamecube, PlayStation, I had the lot. The only issue was that I have an older brother and a younger brother so growing up I had to literally wrestle them to get hold of that controller. The only exception to this rule was on Saturday morning because these were reserved for WWF, so they took a break from wrestling each other in order to watch men wrestle on TV.
Then in my early Uni days, when I first arrived to campus, I was surprised to find that I must was one of few girls, or students for that matter, who came with their console for their first week. I remember being told during Freshers, a week in which students are expected to socialise with one another and make new friends, that everyone was about to grab a cab into town to go a club. I, on the other hand, was running down a snowy mountain in Skyrim being chased by a bear.
Fast forward 2 years, I’m in my final year of Uni and I am no longer doing so hot; life got a little too difficult and as a result I caught a case of the good ol’ crippling depression. I stopped seeing my friends or my boyfriend and my studies were taking a battering. I didn’t sleep for something like 5 days in a row, so I called it quits and decided to go back to my parents’ home to try and get myself sorted.
For the first couple of days I stayed curled up in bed in a foetal position pretty much every day and night. I continued not to sleep and remained trapped in my own bleak thoughts. Then my little brother and his friend came over to the house one day and started talking to me about this new game that they couldn’t get enough of. They said it was called The Last of Us. They reminded me that my boyfriend had already given me this game to play but I hadn’t played it because it sounded too scary.
Later that day I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. At first I was terrified but as I became more engrossed in the story, I found the horror easier to tolerate. To my surprise, the more engrossed I became the more I forgot about my own life; I began to sleep better at night and remained occupied by the game in the day. My brother and his mate came over and couldn’t believe how far I had gotten in it and at a higher difficulty level than them (of course). Slowly I began to feel better. I know people say you shouldn’t try avoiding your problems but sometimes I think you need an escape. An escape from your thoughts and responsibilities, and The Last of Us helped me do just that.
The game finished and my life had to resume but I felt that game had given me just enough free head space to give things another go. Oh, and my new favourite genre? It’s horror, of course.
Then in my early Uni days, when I first arrived to campus, I was surprised to find that I must was one of few girls, or students for that matter, who came with their console for their first week. I remember being told during Freshers, a week in which students are expected to socialise with one another and make new friends, that everyone was about to grab a cab into town to go a club. I, on the other hand, was running down a snowy mountain in Skyrim being chased by a bear.
Fast forward 2 years, I’m in my final year of Uni and I am no longer doing so hot; life got a little too difficult and as a result I caught a case of the good ol’ crippling depression. I stopped seeing my friends or my boyfriend and my studies were taking a battering. I didn’t sleep for something like 5 days in a row, so I called it quits and decided to go back to my parents’ home to try and get myself sorted.
For the first couple of days I stayed curled up in bed in a foetal position pretty much every day and night. I continued not to sleep and remained trapped in my own bleak thoughts. Then my little brother and his friend came over to the house one day and started talking to me about this new game that they couldn’t get enough of. They said it was called The Last of Us. They reminded me that my boyfriend had already given me this game to play but I hadn’t played it because it sounded too scary.
Later that day I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. At first I was terrified but as I became more engrossed in the story, I found the horror easier to tolerate. To my surprise, the more engrossed I became the more I forgot about my own life; I began to sleep better at night and remained occupied by the game in the day. My brother and his mate came over and couldn’t believe how far I had gotten in it and at a higher difficulty level than them (of course). Slowly I began to feel better. I know people say you shouldn’t try avoiding your problems but sometimes I think you need an escape. An escape from your thoughts and responsibilities, and The Last of Us helped me do just that.
The game finished and my life had to resume but I felt that game had given me just enough free head space to give things another go. Oh, and my new favourite genre? It’s horror, of course.
