The author recounts their experience with a real-life storm in Scotland that caused significant damage, then contrasts it with the thrilling and satisfying experience of navigating treacherous storms in video games.
Yesterday afternoon, my local medical centre sent me a text warning me that going outside the next day might prove to be fatal. A couple of hours later, my phone started going nuts, scaring the heck out of my dog and, frankly, me, as an alert prepared the country for Storm Eowyn. This morning, as my lights flickered, some debris slammed into the wall right next to my window. And then I got a phone call from my mum telling me her car had been murdered by a tree. This is not normal for Scotland.
Foul weather is very much par for the course—grey skies and perpetual rain, most of the year round—but potentially fatal winds? Not so much. So this has all been pretty unpleasant. I made the mistake of helping people chase bins earlier, to stop them smashing into cars, but that proved to be a terrible idea. I have since remained inside, much to the dismay of my dog, who'd very much like to go for a run. Videogame storms, though, I am absolutely into. Indeed, pushing through a lethal storm, risking life and limb for a few metres of progress, is one of my favourite digital experiences. The Sisyphean fight against nature, a frail human body striving to survive against a biblical onslaught, is just supremely satisfying. Weather is the ultimate foe. It cannot be defeated or reasoned with. The best you can hope for is maybe not dying.on my Steam Deck and it features some all-time great storms—though these are not of the soggy variety like the one that I am currently cowering from. No, these bad boys are sandstorms. I do have some real-life experience here, though, from living in the Middle East as a teen, and they absolutely suck. Horrible, suffocating and downright terrifying. But contained within my little handheld PC, they are just extremely cool. They arrive as a great beige wall, slowly consuming the flawless blue sky of sun-baked, post-apocalyptic Australia. Then, like a furious tsunami, they engulf you, turning the desert into a dark red and orange Martian-like realm. It's only possible to see your immediate surroundings, and even then only through the sandy gloom, which can make it tricky to avoid the often-large pieces of metal and debris that will inevitably collide with your car, or just you. Sometimes you'll encounter more human threats within the storms, too, with the desert's daredevil inhabitants becoming similarly trapped in the tumult. Will they just leave you alone? Like hell they will: you might have some gasoline. Thus, some of my most desperate fights have taken place inside these dusty Thunderdomes.Storms at sea are even more spectacularly terrifying, especially since you're even more vulnerable. On dry land you can maybe seek shelter. Out in the water, you've just gotta ride through it. That's whenis at its most thrilling. My favourite Assassin's Creed made great use out of its ocean setting, but it peaked with its stormy ship battles. Ship-shattering waves, deadly waterspouts, lightning cracking the sky, and here you are, trying to avoid being turned into splinters by cannons and bracing for broadside attacks. Nobody could accuse Black Flag of being a challenging game—it's too much of a crowd-pleaser—but bloody hell did itThe biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware dealsContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsThe reality isn't quite a barrel of laughs. I was sailing around the Cyclades years ago when our trip was thwarted by hurricane-force winds, and I mostly just felt sick, especially when our yacht was cutting through the water and ended up on its side—I was sure we were about to capsize. Somehow we managed to get through it all with only a tiny bit of damage (and that only happened due to an unrelated collision) and a minor head wound for myself (also unrelated, mostly due to booze). Not recommended., though, where it feels like the storms are really out for blood. The radioactive clouds transform the Zone into Hell itself. On my first day, I was looting a large facility when I got chased by some bandits. I was low on ammo and bandages, so I bravely hid in a small nook as they searched for me. Luckily for me, a storm was also kicking off. Outside, the world was transformed by the ominous green light of the unnatural weather, while forks of lightning desperately sought out new victims. My attackers were among them. When I finally felt courageous enough to leave the facility, there were corpses everywhere, leaving a bounty of loot for yours truly. Sometimes, I guess, storms can be your friend
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