One Minute Past Midnight: Bastion & Healing from Nuclear Devastation
▻https://deorbital.media/one-minute-past-midnight-3a40c9788e60
The term “power fantasy” pops up a lot in video game criticism. Bastion, you see, is a game that made me feel powerful in a way I don’t get to in my real life. On the most basic level, that’s because I was one person against the world and, through skill and grit and an upgrade tree, I managed to beat the world back.
And then, after all the fighting, I stood there. The Kid and Rucks and Zia and Zulf stared me down from one side, an impossible choice stared me down from the other. Do I trust that this country won’t repeat the same mistake this time around, or do I cut my losses and head for greener pastures? Do I pick Restoration or Evacuation?
Staring at my laptop 6 years ago at 1AM, sobbing, a brutal headache pounding at my temples, I turned to Zia and we left the past behind us.
I chose Evacuation the first time, and I chose it every time after that. I could fabricate an argument that Caelondia was a lost cause that crafted its own destruction out of sheer paranoia, that it was and will always be doomed, but the truth is I’m never able to tear apart the family I built from its ashes. I can’t help but cling to them and the prayer for the better future they symbolize. The real power fantasy at the heart of this game is the idea that I can wake up the day after annihilation and build something beautiful and intimate and important from the wreckage.