The other day I got a text from my wife that said “Is there a new Halo game for us to play tonight?” (I could get that framed on my wall). After she beat L.A. Noire a 3rd time, she was looking for something new. She had a vague memory of playing through either Halo 2 or 3, with the neighbor girl growing up, and I had fond memories of playing Halo 3 with the rest of the Alan Game’s Crew back in 2007. Needless to say, I was more than willing to accompany her on her journey back into Halo.
We played in what was an admittedly wild order, working back from Halo 3 to Combat Evolved. The aforementioned text was her asking if I’d installed Reach and ODST because she was pretty bored of Halo 4 (but now that we’re done with those I think she’s willing to go back). But having essentially reached the end of the “good” Halo games I’m wondering, why aren’t there more games like this for couples? PC gang, please remain silent. Consoles are for lovers. I’m talking about a cozy night with her, a bottle of wine, and the Master Chief.
We live in a world of constant distraction. Our media landscape consists of dopamine vampires trying to give us the next hook. While a movie with my wife is nice, I have a habit of turning to IMDB to read trivia and she may start silently browsing Instagram. Each of us holding two separate portals to various interests. In the past few weeks our battle with the Covenant has given us a shared focus; a distraction free moment and a unified enemy.
And unlike a movie, I can talk all I want. We discuss the story, the setting, how Master Chief is kind of pathetic for simping for an AI. There’s jokes. Drama. Tension. It makes for a pleasant evening together. There’s something about Halo that is quietly romantic. The serene beauty, and empty cathedral-like spaces. The religious undertones and Chief’s need for Cortana. I also get a chance to flex my gamer acumen. There’s power fantasy in video games, and there’s few better examples of this in gaming than the Master Chief. Part of relationship dynamics is safety around each other, so what better way to show my innate protective abilities than by bravely charging a wraith? And she engages with the power fantasy as well. She bounced off ODST because the Power fantasy of playing as a Spartan wasn’t there.
Halo’s respawn system allows the gameplay to continue, so long as one player is safe. This creates these moments where either my wife’s ability to calmly pick off targets creates a sanctuary space, or me, deep in the battlefield, needing to shoot my way out so she can come back. There’s metaphors there…
I don’t have market research (and, speaking on behalf of my corner of Alan Games, we prefer it that way), so I can’t tell you what percentage of couples game together. It would seem, however, based on the sample size of my household that there’s at least something, and because we exist, others must as well.
So what do I want? Do I want a fan fiction game about a Samus-type and a Chief-type, as in love as Morticia and Gomez, on a barren scifi planet? Do I want infinite space adventures on beautiful worlds with my wife? Yeah. Absolutely. And if I have to make it myself, damn it, I will.
Anyway, Alan Games developer Broseph is getting married in a this week, so this one’s for Joe and Hannah.
