Page 68 of Level Up
“Wait, Audrey—” Damien says, and I can hear him get up to follow me as I make a bee-line to the front door to get my shoes on. “You don’t have to go yet if you?—”
“I’m gonna be late for dinner,” I lie, pulling on my jacket. “But, uh, the movie was fun.”
“Look, I’m sorry that I?—”
“I’ll talk to you later.” I force a small smile before reaching for the door, and thankfully he doesn’t try to stop me.
“Yeah,” he says, holding the door open. “Later.”
I didn’t think a game about a cloud could make me cry, but here we are.
The game is as moving as it is soothing, and the graphics and music are just perfect for creating the ultimate cozy game. Add to that an unexpected narrative that builds through the later levels, and you’ll be filled with so much hope and joy and longing and bittersweet nostalgia. It’s an easy game to keep coming back to, since you always see something you missed last time.
I’d definitely recommend playing with a controller because steering with the mouse can be a little tricky, though. Other than that, it’s a great escape for when the rest of the world just feels like Too Much.
— Review ofCloud Questby@OddlyAdoredon Play’N (December 3, 2020)
eighteen
remembering it differently
For two-and-a-half years,SconesOfAyor was my favourite streamer.
For almost a week, he was my nemesis.
For a bit over a month, he was the person I most wanted to spend time with.
And for the past two days, he’s the person I’ve been hiding from.
Because I gotnerd-girl hornyat him and I don’t know how to come back from that.
When I got home on Saturday, I went straight to my couch and cocooned myself in whatever blankets I could find, after texting my mother that I wasn’t feeling well enough for dinner. I avoided my gaming computer for the entire night, instead watching Netflix on my laptop and playingCloud Queston my Switch. (Because sometimes you just need to be a cloud in handheld mode.)
I managed to brave the big computer on Sunday, but I made sure to appear offline and turn my notifications off—though, not without seeing some of Damien’s messages first. I couldn’t bring myself to read them at the time,but it looked like there was word-vomit and it made me feel even more guilty.
This evening, however, I can’t stay hidden because I have a stream to do. My viewership is not high enough for me to skip a day, especially since I only stream three days a week, and video games are expensive; I need all the hits I can get, at my tier.
Or, at least, my previous tier.
I hadn’t looked at my subscriber count since the joint stream, and the newcomers from that managed to bump me into the next revenue tier on Play’N. I can get higher paying ads now, and a tip jar for subscribers to pay me directly—it’s exciting but terrifying at the same time.
Do any of these people even know what I stream? How many of them are just here to watch me fail? Are they subscribed out of pity? Am I justScones’s pathetic friendto them? Does it matter?
I put on another mechanical keyboard themed t-shirt—this time with a retro-looking graphic of a keyboard and the wordsKEEB IT REALin bubble letters—and throw a chunky cardigan over it. I’m not going to let the fear of new subscribers stop me from being a hundred percent myself tonight, even though part of me wants to scrub away every embarrassing thing about my personality and present myself as someone who’s remotelycool.
But if being myself sends people running, then so be it.
“I think that means you’re probably doing something right.”
The usual suspects are all here tonight, and it eases some of the anxiety in my stomach to know that people whodolike my streams will be watching, too. Especially since I know they all loveCloud Questalmost as much as I do, and I really need the comfort of familiarity tonight.
I ask the people in the chat if they have a preference of which level I should do this time, since I have a couple minutesbefore I’m scheduled to begin, and several people chime in with suggestions. Including Damien.
He suggests level thirteen, the final level. The one that makes me cry when I play it, sometimes, because it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. I’ve never played that level on a stream before.
There are a lot of things I’ve never done before.
At the start of the level, the world is all grey and polluted and rotten, and my little cloud has to bring it all back to life. But the cloud can get sick, can get polluted as well, and it’s nearly impossible to get ahead of the spreading rot.
