'The Legend of Zelda,' 'Dinky,' and a Bridge to My Daughter

When winter made its second pandemic appearance here in Montana, I found myself pining to relive my first experience with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. To my dismay, the sequel, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the bash-fest Nintendo released in November, didn’t scratch my itch for sweeping, soothing landscapes and low-stakes puzzle solving during a year of high-stakes reality. I’ve been home with toddlers for 11 months straight, my every lockdown minute a battle against darkness and chaos, replete with my own two tiny red Bokoblins perpetually swinging their Boko Clubs at my weakened defenses. But she’d previously tackled PBS Kids Games and Sago Mini World on an old iPad, so she wasn’t entirely new to the basics of gaming. All we can do is wait for the test results and watch.” I couldn’t plan for what our life with her would be like— outcomes ranged from round-the-clock medical care to a relatively simple brain shunt to relieve the fluid to.