When is an insult not an insult? When it’s affectionate.
‘Friendslop’ might sound dismissive, but speaks of a pervasive cultural fondness for approachable, affordable co-op games that know how to stay out of the way of a meandering voice chat. ‘Walking simulator’ may have once been used as a cudgel to attack minimalist and meditative experiments in narrative, but has since become a helpful label for both the people who crave that experience and the developers making them. I can type ‘walking sim’ into my Gmail search bar and find multiple press releases hoping to sell me on short, story-led mysteries of one kind or another.
