BY EDWARD VARNELL
TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | TWITCH | MIXER
We don’t talk about companionship in games that often. Yeah, we can discuss what we did in a multiplayer mode of a game or learn new ways to survive in battles with random players, but nothing is like good teamwork that means something special, a connection you wish occurred more often in real life.
When we think of companionship, we think of the bond in a relationship. Companionship is defined as “the fellowship existing among companions; company.” Over time, we develop something with another person that is strong and hard to break. In games, we see some character arcs where two or more team members don’t gel with each other. As you play certain titles, a twist can appear, like in A Way’s Out. In other games, there’s companionship that can happen at what seems to be the right time. One of my favorite Playstation 4 titles is The Last Guardian. We see Trico and the boy who was snatched away from his village land in this undiscovered place where they both must work together to reveal what is causing Trico and his kind to go mad while helping each other fight ancient warriors, solve puzzles, and discover the importance of their roles.
During the journey, they build a companionship that pet owners can relate to. For example, the boy calms Trico down after a fight and removes spears that were plunged or thrown into him, much like a dog owner removing spiky thistles from the poor animal’s paw. In turn, Trico saves the boy from falling from different heights, which calls to mind the courage of four-legged friends in the real world. The player witnesses events that show the natural progression of a bond, including sweet moments like Trico swimming to the boy, drying off, and inadvertently wetting his companion.
There is nothing wrong with having that in and out of games. Corey, Jesse, and I, plus several others, have a companionship from working together for years and just talking, hanging out, and helping one other grow. With new team members joining us, we want to build a companionship with them, too.
We still have new stories to be told and more characters and their traits, personalities, emotions, and more to discover. We’re going to see different sides of companionship. It might not be there in every game, but when you find it, you’ll see the allure of having it.
