Intertain: Crossroads 01

At 40 years old, videogames continue to captivate my artistic curiosity and remain an engaging part of my eventful life. Even as I have grown over the years, this evolving medium still inspires, surprises, and challenges me in meaningful ways. My world brightens when reality crosses paths with fantasy.

How I play has also changed with time, as has the way I share these joyful experiences with others. With the birth of this new Crossroads format, I aim to explore the organic, integral nature in which gaming fosters deeper connections for someone as awkward as me.

Intertain is back again — this time, more personal than ever.

RHYTHM DOCTOR — with Chloe

✧ 7th Beat Games | Malaysia × Peru

Being a music composer, rhythm games have a special place in my heart, as well as my Steam library.

My dear bae, Chloe, also occupies a special place in my heart, so I got her to play this game with me.

While the overwhelming majority of rhythm games utilise multiple inputs — often pushing players toward mechanical execution rather than musical flow — Rhythm Doctor takes a different approach. With just one button, players take on the role of a defibrillator operator, striking on the seventh beat of a loop to stabilise patients whose variable heartbeats echo their emotional and personal ailments.

Despite its minimalist control scheme, the game delivers surprising depth by introducing increasingly complex musical concepts as levels progress. These include polyrhythms, irregular time signatures, syncopated beats, and hemiolas. Challenging, but satisfying to conquer as a veteran finger drummer. Chloe was impressed by my sense of rhythm throughout our playthrough.

My girl also enjoyed the tutorials in each section, describing them as little music lessons with clear explanations and time to practise. Above all, however, the boss battles were the most memorable. They test the player’s internal pulse with visual static, glitches, and even window manipulation that causes the game to hop around the desktop, as though the computer itself has been hit by a virus.

Speaking of viruses, setting the game in an understaffed hospital environment is indisputably genius. The ability to perform cardiac treatment through precise beats in this context serves as a statement on the healing power of music, juxtaposed with a keen sense of medical urgency. You mustn’t delay, and yet you cannot rush — the balance sought after by all who wish to master the rhythm.

Overall, Rhythm Doctor shines in its thematic tension, where everything aligns in perfect timing.

VAMPIRE THERAPIST — with Oliver

✧ Little Bat Games | Germany

Many people need therapy, but not everyone has the luxury of accessing it, and not every therapist comes equipped to address the specific needs of each individual. I speak from experience.

In a year when Oliver has been working through significant events, I came across Vampire Therapist ­­— a game that offers insight and points toward compassion for those hoping to heal.

This visual novel follows Sam, an American cowboy vampire, as he serves as a therapist to members of his own kind. I found the premise rife with intriguing charm, and knowing Oliver to be an old soul, I shared the game with him, confident that it would resonate.

For us concerned with matters of the afterlife, we realised that these immortal beings inhabit their own version of life after death. But in this otherworldly context, neither do they enjoy eternal peace, nor do they suffer everlasting ruin. Their predicament is uncertain and tricky, and so… therapy it is!

Sam’s curious clientele include a repressed scientist struggling with addiction, a Renaissance curator filled with regret, a Shakespearean actor seeking validation, a cult leader shaped by ancient trauma, as well as a pair of martyrs bound together by revolutionary history yet divided by political reality.

Confronting unhealthy patterns that have persisted for centuries or even millennia is no simple task. Fortunately, Sam is equipped to identify thirteen cognitive distortions — patterns of faulty thinking recognised during the game’s development as they consulted with real mental health professionals. Much like actual behavioural therapy, players may interject amid conversations to point out certain distortions as the primary means of uncovering the root of a character’s affliction.

The realism, combined with solid writing, makes for a journey that proves both educational and fun. Oliver and I appreciated the space for self-reflection, especially when exposing tendencies such as:

• Labelling: Defining yourself or someone else by a single trait, mistake, or behaviour.
• Fairness Fallacy: Expecting life to conform to your personal sense of fairness or justice.
• Mind Reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking without sufficient evidence.
• Personalisation: Interpreting events as though you are the target of other people’s actions.
• Overgeneralisation: Drawing sweeping conclusions from a single event or limited experience.
• Should Statements: Holding yourself or others to rigid standards about how things must be.
• Nosferatu Thinking: Viewing situations in black-and-white terms, with no middle ground — named after the classic monochrome vampire film as a metaphor for the binary mindset.

After each session, we came away having met new friends, while also gaining a better understanding of ourselves and how we might support one another. In many ways, this has truly been more fruitful than much of the therapy I have attended in the past.

CAIRN — with Me, Aava, and the Most High

✧ The Game Bakers | France

High places have long been associated with divine encounters. Even in the Bible, mountains often serve as places of revelation and transformation. We see examples in the stories of Moses (Sinai), Elijah (Horeb), and Jesus himself (Tabor or Hermon).

Cairn begins with a deep longing:

All I ever wanted was to touch eternity for an instant.

As a world-class mountaineer, Aava desires to reach for the heavens. It is an upward-looking journey that captures my heart, but not one that I can undertake physically.

The spirit is willing, and yet the flesh is weak.

Videogames can be the perfect shortcut. Though for protagonist Aava, who faces a literal mountain — Mount Kami, standing 150 metres higher than Everest — she might just disagree.

Indeed, the game’s ascent mechanics prove slow and deliberate. The player controls Aava one sore limb at a time, weighing each movement with care: which ledge to grab, and which foothold to trust. Add to that the need to eat, drink, sleep, and keep warm, and this turns into a survival game.

There is a quote by French-Algerian author Albert Camus that comes to mind:

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

I am not so optimistic about the fate of Sisyphus. Nonetheless, I’d be remiss to deny the satisfaction found in being mindful of the everyday. A key lesson I have learned from my time with Cairn is that even in the pursuit of a lofty goal, sound progress is made through the daily grind.

In other words, each precious day well-lived is another step closer to eternity.

This wise perspective is equally relevant when confronting the towering challenge of Mount Kami, whose summit lies so far above that it is almost unfathomable.

In fact, the name itself is layered with meaning. Not only is it a direct reference to Kami Rita Sherpa — the Nepalese guide who holds the record for successful ascents to Everest’s peak — but the word “kami” in Japanese also means god or deity, a fitting association for a mountain that demands total reverence and sacrifice from all who seek to scale its heights.

I fell 227 times before conquering Mount Kami’s summit. By this point, Aava was utterly exhausted, her body battered and riddled with wounds. The journey turned out to be fatal, as even her trusty Climbot succumbed, shutting down amid the brutal conditions.

Breathing her last, she finally let go.

At that moment, Aava’s spirit was raised and we were empowered to grasp the stars in the night sky. The climb continued for a while further until we were completely freed from the confines of physics, at which point Aava launched deep into the heavens, at last touching eternity.

To me, the ending of Cairn is a picture of grace. Human effort may carry us far, but it cannot bridge the chasm to eternity. Yet when the race is run and the ascent is overcome, and we entrust our souls to one greater than any mountain, the sky is no longer the limit.

Above all else, we cross paths with the Most High.

NEVA — with May and Guabao

✧ Nomada Studio | Spain

When I lived together with May, one of my favourite pastimes was watching her play videogames. The sheer enjoyment of this vicarious activity often increased with a title’s difficulty, especially when she tackled a genre outside her comfort zone.

And each time she achieves victory, I share in her celebration.

Now that I only get to meet May on a weekly basis, these opportunities have become rather scarce. Nevertheless, convincing her to play Neva rekindled some of that familiar excitement.

The game is a 2D platformer centred around two characters. Players control Alba, a young woman who wields a sword and adventures with Neva, the titular white wolf. The artistic direction draws heavily from Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke, rendered in the distinct style of Conrad Roset.

In my eyes, the pair mirrors May and Guabao, the cavoodle I got for her after our marriage ended. Since then, May has poured much of herself into raising the puppy — feeding and caring for her, teaching her commands and tricks, and bringing her along on countless outings.

The two are virtually inseparable, much like Alba and Neva.

Alba is on a mission of healing, cleansing the world of darkness and corruption wherever she is able. May pursues a similar calling in spirit, working to reflect light into people’s lives by the grace of God. Therefore, it felt proper to see her take up the controller and join the fight, which she handled well. Platforming, on the other hand, was another story. But hey, it’s all part of the experience.

As time goes by, Neva grows from a pup to a hound through much adversity and over many seasons. Likewise, we have seen Guabao make remarkable progress too. These transformations are satisfying and fun to witness, though I also related to some of her early struggles as a puppy.

Looking back, many of the imbalances in my marriage with May stemmed from challenges I had yet to conquer as an adult. My shortcomings inevitably strained our bond, yet she never ceased to offer support and prayer, often with the patience and care of an older sister.

And to this day, just as I celebrate her victories in games, she celebrates mine in life.