little late to the party
Since ever I was into video games. One of my first memories about them is playing Kirbys Dream Land on the first Gameboy over and over again in our vacation in the Netherlands. Then there was my Playstation 1, 2, Xbox, PS3, PC and so on. I guess everyone has a genre he or she loves / hates. For example I really don't like sports games like FIFA. But there is is genre with it's absolutely interesting looking games I never could get into: indie games. And then I got my hands on a Steam Deck and that's where this story begins.
As you can tell from the little intro about me, I'm not that young anymore, speaking of having the first Gameboy and the first Playstation. I played alot of video games. Lot of mainstream stuff and maybe some hidden gems. With the Steam Deck in my hands I decided to try some really not hidden gem indie games like Balatro (this one is addictive af but I totally recommend to play it, maybe I'll make a post about it later) and Dave the Diver. For those who never heard about Dave the Diver, here's a little (very not good) explanation like I told some friends about it: you play as Dave and he's a diver (don't you say, Sherlock! ). The game starts with diving, hunting fishes and short after the start beeing forced to help in a sushi restaurant. But thats just the bare surface of the game. I won't spoil you (or at least I try), but there is so much more to this game. A lot of minigames inside the game. A fun and interesting story and great gameplay. It's not to easy nether to hard. If you die, well it's because you were too greedy, I guess. But what made me write about the game was another thing. At one point of the game, there is one of the greatest eastereggs I've experienced by far. Its a game in the game and it's just awesome. To me it felt like the devs where enjoying this other game so much that they wanted to show their appreciation with this easteregg. I didn't do any research about it, it's just the feeling I had, when I was playin.
This easteregg for me was what gaming should be. Fun and appreciation for the work of others. And to me it feels like indie games do this like no other genre can. I won't talk about the "dark" side of the gaming industry and the way how capitalism is forcing people into crunch and stuff like this here (also because I'm sure other people can tell about way better than I can), but because of all this it feels so good to see, that there is this other side of the gaming industry.
I hope that many people made this experience with Dave the Diver or other games. And if you haven't, give this game or indie games at all a chance. Maybe you'll feel like a little kid again and I guess in these days we all need this.