What you’re about to read was something a potential employer asked of its applicants.  The prompt was simple and straightforward.  I liked what I wrote a lot and figured it was worth sharing.  So here it is:

“Please include your resume and a cover letter telling us what excites you about video games.”

These were the words used when asking for applicants for the [redacted] position you have available. From virtual reality, to the emergence of the battle royale genre, to tiny versions of classic consoles, there are dozens of things that are exciting me about games right now. But just like motion controls, these things rise and fall in the social consciousness and ultimately only make up one side of what is exciting about the games industry.

To me there is no other medium around that can deliver the kinds of experiences that games can. It can be as obvious as a fully realized world to explore, dense with the tiniest details that flesh out the setting you’re in. Or maybe it’s nailing that tangible feeling of wielding a weapon as you battle your way through another power fantasy. While I love these aspects of games there is something that is so much more rare, that when it happens it’s almost like a revelation.

Last year a game was released call Night in The Woods. On its surface, it was an adventure game that had a unique art style and featured anthropomorphic animals. I did not expect this game to be the one that would make me tear up and leave me emotionally exhausted. It was a game about trying to recapture the memories you had when you were younger and ultimately realizing that it isn’t possible. It’s about growing up and moving on, leaving the old behind and forging ahead into the unknown no matter how terrifying it seems because there is no other option. It’s a game about loss, acceptance and harsh realizations about yourself as well as the world around you.

Or maybe it’s just a game about some animals in their early twenties whining and complaining about their problems and being annoying.

But it can be both of those things, because games can be a million different things to a million different people. This game made me feel something that no book, movie or album ever did and resonated with me in a way that I hadn’t felt before. That is what’s most exciting to me about games. They are versatile and everyone is going to walk away from them with a different experience that is uniquely theirs.