Survival.

The thing about video games is that if the game itself is not good, well made and artistically done items such as weapons make up for the lack of good content. Iconic weapons such as the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (TM) or the different blades from Dark Souls become iconic symbols of these games and the fanbase its created.

However, my friends told me that there was a bow and arrow at the Cultural Bazaar in front of our building and I freaked out. A bow and arrow! In school! I would not miss the opportunity to be like Wander from Shadow of the Colossus in school.

What I got was a wooden bow and arrow. The arrow was made of some sort of caramel brown wood and the string was tighter than a guitar's. I always imagined bows and arrow were made of steel and have jiggly strings that feel like soft yarn on your skin. This one felt more real. It's as if I understood the practicality. These things were probably how they actually made them. Not in some movie or game. But in actual combat. It is pretty cool though, it came with this sticker holder (I have absolutely no idea what to call it), it was also made of wood. The man that sold it to me was pretty eager to sell it. I can see that he made it, he was obviously proud of it.

The practicality of this thing is kind of what makes it real for me. I mean no one living in like the province has the time to make things out of actual steel when wood is just there and is present. I mean, in video games it’s all fun and, literally, games. But…when you’re out there you don’t really have a choice. You can’t find gems or crystals that will upgrade your wooden bow to a +3000 wooden bow with poison damage and stun. And I’m not complaining, it’s great actually. It gives me a sense of games in real life. I was testing this thing out in my room and I realized how much I do not know about actual archery. There is different archery…places that teach you to actually be good at archery. However, I dispute the realism in these things cause when you’re in the forest and actually need to hunt for food or for self-defense, you won’t have an instructor or a clear red target to hit. You know what I’d actually pay for? To be in the forest, with dummy targets randomly being thrown at me. That would be damn great.

Alright so, to the guy that sold me this: I asked you how much the price is and it felt like I stole this from you for 50 when I was willing to pay at least 150. But as I am a high school student that requires 160+ pesos to get home, I was sort f glad that I only had to pay 50.  The craftsmanship is worth more than I paid for and I really felt bad that I only paid as much as I did. It looked finely shaped. The bow was curved so elegantly and I have no idea how it was curved the way it was. The string was tightly knotted so that when I actually use the bow it shoots at a high speed especially for a child like me. The arrows weren’t actually arrows which is good since it was sold at a school fair. And that was fair (get it?) since who wants to sell actual piercing weapons in a place full of angst ridden teenagers?

All in all, this fair was awesome.

Anyway, I'm planning on making this blog about the real world and video games as much as possible. There are certain things in the real world that let you appreciate video games even more. Therefore, I'll be recommending games based on the article's topic. Not because I'm a nerd that would be preposterous.

For this article I’ll be recommending survival games. The Forest by Endnight Games is definitely a top pick since it’s set in a, well, forest. It’s realistic enough in terms of survival, but it has horror elements mixed in. And it has an actual story surrounding it which is rare for a survival game. It starts off with you, Eric Leblanc, with your son, Timmy Leblanc, in an airplane that eventually crashes on a weird island. Fortunately, both of you survive. Your son gets kidnapped by a mysterious man though, so bad juju. Your role in the island is to fend off cannibals and other tribes in the island (bad representation of tribes, by the way) and figure out how to get your son back.

Additionally, I recommend the game The Raft for you mobile users. Not much story and has a simple premise: you are on a raft that goes nowhere in the middle of the ocean; go survive. Sounds boring but once you get into it, it’s hard to stop.

That’s it for now. Support your local artists, yeah?