My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery will be coming to pretty much every platform on May 17 and while it’s definitely out of my usual comfort zone in terms of game choices, I can’t help but be incredibly excited for its release.
Before you judge me, just know that I have a very good reason.
You see, I have a three-year-old little girl who happens to love My Little Pony, but she also desperately wants to join in with every game I play. Whether I’m battling Eikons in Final Fantasy XIV or trying to chop down trees in Stardew Valley, she’s on my lap trying to play, and this My Little Pony game feels like the perfect moment to introduce her to a game she might actually be able to play.
From the moment she was born, she’s seen me and my partner gaming. I was playing FFXIV with her asleep on my chest at 2 am almost from the day she came home because that was the only way she would sleep. She’s grown up surrounded by gaming, and, of course, she wants to join in. However, her small hands aren’t suited to using a mouse and she hasn’t quite figured out WASD controls. That said, she’s great at using the space bar.
So, with My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery coming soon, I’m excited to hand her a controller and watch her run into walls while she tries to figure out how the buttons work and the best part? The game is multiplayer, so I can be right there with her in that world, showing her the way. I can teach her to run, teach her to fly and teach her the joy of gathering collectibles in a game.
There are outfits for her to collect and accessories to put on her pony (you have a choice of six ponies to play as—Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pip, Zip, or Misty), and special abilities that can be used to stop “unstable magic.” There are also minigames that are much more likely to keep my daughter’s attention, so there’s no lack of things for her to do or things for us to do together.
I think, as a certain generation of gamers (no, I’m not calling us old), it’s down to us to show the next generation the joy of immersing ourselves in a whole new world, but there’s a lack of games that I feel comfortable enough to let her play. Sure, my daughter has played Untitled Goose Game (and it produced her first gamer rage moment), but I can’t be in the game with her. I can watch and help, but I can’t guide.
She’s played a bit of Minecraft, but she much prefers building blocks of a much more physical nature. And again, I can’t play with her without facing some issues. There’s a lack of multiplayer games that could provide a true bonding experience in a whole new world, an adventure that can be shared between parent and child.
Admittedly, there is Bluey, but if I hear that theme song one more time I might have a non-gaming related rage moment.
So yes, I’m a gaming parent, and I’m looking forward to playing My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery. No, I won’t ever play it on my own – it’s not that appealing, but I can’t wait to spend hours figuring out exactly what this ‘mystery’ is with my daughter at my side (or more likely on my lap), creating core memories.