Why ‘Breath of the Wild’ is the Perfect Quarantine Game

Warning: This article may contain minor spoilers for those who have yet to play Breath of the Wild.

Let’s be honest: 2020 has been a difficult year. If that seems like it’s a gross understatement, that could be because it is. For the past few months of this pandemic, much of the world has been balanced precariously between strict, self-imposed isolation and carefree (or careless) behavior that may be putting countless lives at risk. With many struggling to find work, struggling to stay safe, and struggling to stay afloat, leisure time can sometimes feel like a luxury we can’t afford.

Video games in particular are often singled out by some sources and media outlets as allegedly associated with a variety of harmful effects. It’s not at all uncommon to see claims about how video game addiction contributes to depression, alongside statistics on the number of gamers that suffer from depression. Meanwhile, few of these sources and few of gaming’s critics put such issues into context by either offering a robust definition of gaming addiction or by seriously considering the very relevant limitations on what such studies suggest about causal links between depression and gaming.

The psychologist Brian Sutton-Smith studied children and adults at play and came to the intriguing conclusion that the opposite of…