alright, so, feel free to ignore this, i just wanted to put it into the void just in case anyone could relate.

i grew up watching my parents play open world games like the elder scrolls or the fallout series (there’s more, they weren’t solely bethesda gamers—those are just the ones that stuck with me the most). after my mom passed away (i was still extremely young), games sort of became a way for me to bond with my dad. of course, since i was a kid, it was mostly things like me playing super mario bros on my DSi while he played the xbox—but even then, it was quality time that had a huge impact on my happiness as a kid.

as i got older—to the preteen phases—i started to ask him for games. he and i both remember me asking things like “i want a game where i can just run around and find stuff. i don’t wanna have to do things, i just wanna do what i want.” this was my way of asking for an open world game without knowing the actual term for it.

even so, once i was introduced to games that were open world, it still wasn’t enough. all i wanted was to be able to play a game WITH my dad, one where we could explore together. something like minecraft, but more realistic.

eventually i forgot about this, as we weren’t ever able to find a game that matched what childhood me really wanted. i became content with gaming next to my dad without actually connecting with him in multiplayer.

playing NMS together has become a daily thing for us, and as we spent most of father’s day killing sentinels together, we realized that NMS was the game that childhood me had always wanted.

even though i’ve known of it since its release, i didn’t get it until the end of may. and even though i’m going on 20 now, NMS is letting me fulfill the one big dream i had: to explore an infinitely unique world in multiplayer with my dad. we aren’t tied down by quests, and there’s so many worlds we can always find one for our mood.

so, yeah. thank you NMS, for being the thing that i’d always wanted. after all these years of hardship… we’re bonding like i’m a kid again. these moments with my dad are irreplaceable. it goes beyond the game, even; we share memes and reddit posts related to it. we haven’t had something like this to share in a long time.

in the odd event that HG sees this: thank you. thank you for giving me something to share with my dad.