The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 5

September 8, 2020 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 6 Arts & Entertainment Heartfelt and heavy: A relaxing video game about death of the spirits to Stella. Each spirit makes vague statements about knowing Stella in their past life; whether it was a childhood friend, an uncle, a grandparent, the game makes these personal connections to Stella and therefore to the player. These personal connections to the player allow them to deal with real life struggles they may be dealing with. Maybe they’ve lost a childhood friend, an uncle or a grandparent. When it’s time to say goodbye to the spirits, the game plays a relaxing tune as you slowly row your boat through the Everdoor. You say one last goodbye, give one final hug and let them go. I’ll admit, games don’t often move me, but when I said goodbye to my first passenger I was in tears. The game does such an amazing job at establishing a personal connection to each character. I had previously written about my anticipation for Spiritfarer all the way back in February and I can happily say that the game has surpassed my already high expectations. At that time, I didn’t know that I’d need this game as much as I would. Many people speak of therapeutic video games, and while I do choose some games to play while relaxing, I believe that Spiritfarer is truly a therapeutic video game in every sense of the word. I cannot speak highly enough of this game, but I can highly recommend that you check it out. For one reason or another, many of us have dealt with loss in our lives. Spiritfarer, released on the Nintendo Switch just three weeks ago, is a game that explores loss and death in a new way. This heavily anticipated indie game took fans by surprise when it released the same day the final reveal trailer was shown at Indie World, a showcase of indie games planned for the Nintendo Switch. The heartwarming game lets the player control Stella, the newly appointed spirit farer to the afterlife. If you choose to play in multiplayer mode, you can have another person control Stella’s cat, Daffodil. The game centers around the concept of listening to the needs of those around you and dealing with loss and trauma. Your job as the spirit farer is to find spirits who are ready to go to the afterlife and accept them as passengers on your ship. As you sail across the seas to the Everdoor, the door to the afterlife, you can complete quests and build a tiny little community on your ship before finally saying goodbye. The game is exceptional in every sense of the word. It includes beautiful hand drawn graphics, music that makes you feel centered and brilliant questlines. While I haven’t finished the game, reviews are reporting that the game takes around 40 hours to complete. The game includes other classic game mechanics, such as fishing, cooking and gardening. One ofmy favorite things about this particular game is that there are hardly any consequences for doing something wrong. If you fall in the water, you’re not immediately met with giant letters that read “game over.” If you accidentally burn your food while cooking, it doesn’t start a fire. The worst thing you can do is forget to give one of your passengers a hug or give them a food they dislike, which will make them sad. There’s no consequences for the passengers being sad, though, and sometimes, even if you do everything they ask, they’re still sad. The game teaches an important lesson that sometimes people just need time and space and that it isn’t up to you to fix everything for everyone. The quests allow you to get to know the spirits you are traveling with more personally. Each storyline is well fleshed out and you gain a personal perspective on each spirit you meet. The game makes clever choices in how it relates each By: Sofia Gallus Arts & Entertainment Editor PRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM S. GALLUS Spirifarer on the Switch console Mulan: The girl who brought honor to her family Mulan, the live action remake of a classic Disney movie, was supposed to be released in theaters this spring. However due to the pandemic, the Walt Disney Company presented the feature film on their streaming service, Disney+, with premier access for an extra $29.99. Going into this film, I didn’t want to expect much because Disney has a reputation of taking shot by shot scenes from their animated movies and translating them to live action without any changes. However, Mulan is quite different from its musical counterpart. The movie took its time to develop Hua Mulan as a character and really focused on the expectations of her culture and how it ties in with her story as an individual going against those expectations. The expectation was that a woman should get married to a good family and have a good husband to bring honor to her family -- this doesn’t sit well with Mulan. However, she agrees to go through with it to make her family happy. A predicament arises when her father is recruited to fight in war against the northern invaders, even though he had become impaired from the previous war. The Hua family is fearful because they know that this might be the last time they see their father. Mulan goes against her culture, her family, her people and her country to save her father from his fate of near certain death. She’s off on a journey to use her skills and fight for her father’s name with no guidance but her own. She chooses to fight for China and bring honor to herself through the devotion of her family. Mulan’s personality is quite different in this film. She seems more sheltered and has developed a natural gift by being quite nimble, diligent and courageous. She exceeds her fellow male soldiers in training and battle, proving to her peers that she can do anything a man can do -- and more. The humor is lessened to a great degree, opting towards a more culturally accurate character study. While the supernatural elements remain, it’s not used for comic relief like the character of Mushu. The film uses its run time to explore its characters, even giving personality and motivation to the main villain of the film. The film itself is beautifully shot and quite intense for a Disney film. There was a lot more action than the animation and more details about how the war came to be. It truly is a Mulan film for an older generation in both its structure and tone. PRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM F. SHABAN Mulan on the big screen at home By: Farhan Shaban Chief of Visual Design