In an economy lush with information and scarce in disposable income, I often grow attached to games by observing them rather than playing them. We have access to online videos, walkthroughs, wikis, blogs, fan fiction, and so many more sources of information that we can pull up within 10 seconds via a Google search. I wish I had the time and money to play every great game that I’ve ever looked up, but I’m too curious for my wish list’s own good.
It’s also become an increasingly accepted norm to consume some games solely through derivative media. Heck, that’s a big reason the Let’s Play scene and streaming platforms rose to popularity. Overlooked gems become cult classics that countless fans wish they could find at a reasonable price. Many competitive games are fascinating spectator esports, but they can be extremely intimidating to play. Or sometimes we have a feeling we would love a game, but we have some personal excuse to wait on it…at least that’s why I haven’t played Rivals of Aether yet.
Super Smash Bros has always interested me more than any other fighting game, so when a Smash fangame creator revealed his Smash-inspired fighter with an original IP, I was already intrigued. Rivals of Aether’s colorful pixel art, elemental critter cast, and easily understood yet deep gameplay footage quickly impressed me. I gushed like a rabid fanboy over character reveals, and I used YouTube gameplay montages as rabies vaccines. And that was all before I saw that Marc Knelsen was hired to design Rivals’ DLC characters! Hyping up freelance artists like him is the whole reason I haven’t quit Twitter yet, so now this game also represents an overlap between my two biggest hobbies.
I would have bought Rivals of Aether in a heartbeat… except that it’s only available on PC and Xbox One. I’ve no interest in Microsoft’s other exclusives except for Sunset Overdrive and Cuphead, and the latter just got ported to Switch. I don’t have enough reasons to buy an Xbox. On the other hand, I used to be into PC gaming, but I’ve dropped it long ago for various personal reasons. Excluding the fact that I only had a crappy lappy (which matters little to a low-requirement game like Rivals), I didn’t have a comfortable setup, and I already use my computer for so much work I’d rather play games by getting away from it. I simply enjoy consoles and handhelds far more, so I never think about buying PC games anymore.
With that said, when my old computer broke down a couple of years ago, I finally bought myself a half-decent PC. I still procrastinated on using it for games, but a few weeks ago, I finally reinstalled Steam… coincidentally, to play Lovers of Aether. Not really a PC benchmark, but the point is that I finally removed my self-imposed barrier against PC gaming again. I’ve also noticed my old Steam wallet is only one Steam Sale short of affording Rivals. So I may finally play it in the near future! Or I might wait for the Switch port that I’d prefer anyway. It’s gonna happen. Maybe.
In the meantime, I’m going to sate my information addiction by asking the Destructoid staff if they have any such long-distance relationships with games…
Source: Destructoid What is your favorite game that you’ve never played?