A Love Letter to Koudelka

Dear Koudelka,

You take place on Halloween, which is but one of the many reasons I love you. Your darkness, reflected in your environments and enemy designs, suits my favorite season well. As I traversed the spooky hallways of Nemeton Abbey, essentially a haunted church, I fought ghosts, zombies, a rather menacing gargoyle, sentient chairs and tables, a pirate ghost, and a zombie bride. I loved every minute of it and savored each new monster I was presented with.

You came into my life when I least expected, and I spent more time with you than I ever could've imagined. I know every little thing about you, down to how to get the best weapon in the game (kill the gargoyle for the Sacnoth sword). The beautiful song "Waterfall" that plays during each battle has been engraved onto my brain through all the time I spent listening to it. It's the best battle theme of all time, and I don't mind listening to it again and again, every time I play.

I love you so much that I earned every retro achievement for you, something I only do for games I either already love or want to love. Some of the achievements seemed designed only to make a person want to lose their mind -- for example, the "Exterminator" achievements, which require you to win 22 consecutive battles in each area of the game. What is the purpose of this, if not to make me lose my marbles? I was overpowered by the third area, making this hardly a challenge. But I'm not complaining, because it meant I got to spend more time with you, getting to know every nook and cranny of your monastery setting and learning all the ins and outs of battling, whether I wanted to or not.

I adore you, Koudelka. You are beautiful in a way many other games are not, with dark and mysterious atmosphere oozing from every crumbling corner of your monastic ruins. I bathe in your soft candlelight and cherish every broken weapon. You are my favorite, the epitome, the too often unspoken-of love of my gaming life.

Thank you for everything, my beloved,

Syl