I don't know if I want to meet Laufey

The first time I played God of War (2018), it was not out of interest in Kratos’s story, nor Norse mythology, and it wasn’t even out of curiosity to see why the game had gotten so much acclaim. I booted it up for the first time in August 2021 purely because I knew I needed to justify an impulsive purchase.

This was back when PlayStation 5s were hard to get your hands on, and as a college student who often ate Lunchables, clearing out a good chunk of my savings for a console was not a very good idea. I put in the time and effort to buy one anyway, and only when it arrived did I consider what I could play on it. The only thing that had been going through my mind when I spent the money was that I needed some sort of distraction, some sort of shiny new toy, to pull myself back from the brink. 

A month earlier, my mom had died. She died in a hospital bed, with me and my father by her side. I remember how quiet and lonely it felt, feeling our family get smaller.