I’m gay for a raccoon and the raccoon is just as gay as me send help
Okay…
So, I understand “hopping on the gravy train” is kind of cliche, but I promise I have a good reason for it!
…I guess I should start ‘Rambling on about it’ then!
(I’m so sorry, none of these puns were intentional, but they were too good to miss)
—So, Indigo Park;
what even I would’ve expected was another quick cash-grab game in the mascot-horror genre, turned out to be a game that managed to make me start binge-watching livestreams and video-essays about the game, it’s characters and its development on the whole,
Just like every other millennial and gen-z’er out there.
I know it’s absolutely normal for people to become invested in something so quick…
But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt so attached —so spoken to,
especially when I haven’t really been part of those big ‘band-wagon’ trends at all,
at least with the exception of forcing myself to watch shows with my friends —which again, I don’t do much of that either.
From what I understand, there are technically multiple small factors that have led me to become attached to this game.
But frankly, there all of really part of the one major reason why there’s just, that, ‘something’ —a “spark” if you will—that makes me click with a game for the first time in so many years that it physically hurts.
He’s the star of the show, the elephant in the room:
Rambley;
A cute, furry-raccoon —who likes trains!
Now, as anyone who knows anything about me will tell you, these two factors are inherently weaknesses in my mental psyche.
Why, you may ask? It’s simple!
Firstly, —I too— like trains.
Also, I come from Toronto, Canada — a city famously (or to some infamously) known for its love-hate relationship with its unofficial mascot: the trash pandas! They’re an animal which I got to know well over 13 years, 10 months and ~15 1/2 hours of being a Torontonian.
—Which leads me to the second-half of the other reasons I resonate so god-damn hard with the game, and Rambley in particular:
Isolation
It felt quite funny that the number of days that poor-old AI racoony’ spent alone in the abandoned park was almost exactly double that of the days I’ve been a ‘Quasi-Canadian’ living in the United States, with not much interaction with my family back “home”. I had a single trip back for the first time in multiple years.
—It brang back a lot of memories which so happened to be similar to the ideas mentioned during Rambley’s post-chase exposition.
That little break in his character just made my heart literally melt and shatter and implode all at the same time;
“A little heart-to-heart” as they say, but just.. the way he breaks and talks like a true person, things he isn’t sure about, didn’t know, shouldn’t have done, is painfully, gushingly personal somehow!
It’s also extra cool when he gets excited about restoring the park, as being a former (small) volunteer and hearing about railway preservation stories, you start to realize and appreciate just how much having that other person helping you means when fighting in these “David and Goliath”-esque battles to keep old or unloved things going when everything is telling you it’s impossible.
(Side note, the extra lines where Rambley showcases his sentience and lets you into the staff-only area after realizing Mollie is chasing you made me love him just that much more, and is also what makes me feel the game is just that extra bit special.)
Long story short (TL;DR):
The honesty, personality, and just general likeness of the characters hits very close to home for me,
if for no other reason than that I happen to have (in concept at least) similar experiences in terms of feeling (though thankfully not literally being) isolated from friends.
Cheers, Critters!
—A.