I take bear and bird for a spin and keep going until I’ve collected everything.
I don’t have to spend my time figuring out which skills I want to unlock for Banjo or which pair of shorts I want to equip to upgrade his stats. Any form of progress is an achievement over falling asleep again, and my auto-pilot helps keep me on track. I don’t have to think much when I replay, so it doesn’t matter if my mind wanders or my focus dims. Games like Banjo-Kazooie work for me because I know them backwards and forwards.
I love a complex game - I spend most of my workweek writing about Destiny 2 and other MMOs - but they’re too much for me when I’m too depressed to even sit on my couch without taking a nap. These retro games vary in age and complexity, but none of them come close to the open-world, system-laded extravaganzas of 2020. After days of trying to muster joy for anything new, I fall back on Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie, Ratchet & Clank, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, or a number of other franchises I know well. January has been my retro month for years now.
Banjo & Kazooie during their opening theme song Image: Rare
