Although released in 2018, Supercell’s Brawl Stars’ player base has increased by 50% this year, and the craze over this arena battler mobile game has taken over Inglemoor as well. Senior Victor Bautista (he/him) started playing during Brawl Stars’ explosive rise in popularity in early 2024 and hasn’t been able to put it down since.
“It’s more than just a game. It’s a lifestyle. Once you start playing it, it becomes integrated into your life. You won’t stop thinking about it. It’s always on your mind. It’s like having a true love,” Bautista said. “I live, love, eat Brawl Stars.”
The community of Brawl Stars players at school has grown with the game.
“I know there’s still a big community, not just seniors that I know, but other underclassmen as well,” Bautista said. “I would say that Brawl Stars would be one of the biggest clubs at Inglemoor if it was allowed to be a club.”
With his closest friends and Brawl Stars trio partners seniors Caeden Do and Faraz Naqi, Bautista attempted to create a Brawl Stars club, but they were vetoed by teacher review due to potential phone usage. With over 240 hours of game time and having achieved the highest competitive rank in Brawl Stars, Bautista’s expertise is enviable.
Bautista has spread his Brawl Stars community to his family as well, getting his brother hooked on the game.
“My brother — he’s a Marine — he came home during August when I was playing Brawl Stars a lot, and I put him on the train, and he started playing with me,” Bautista said.
Although Bautista has played many similar competitive games like Fortnite and Rainbow 6 Siege, he said Brawl Stars still tops his list.
“It makes me happier, and a happy man leads to a happy life.”
Splatoon is a unique, colorful and explosive world in the online gaming community. So far, three versions have been released: the first on the Wii U, and two exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. The game, first released in 2015, is a third-person perspective, competitive shooter game that can be played in both single-player and multiplayer modes.
Junior Naiyah Burns (she/her) is one of the many competitive players invested in the game. Burns first started playing the second version of the game, Splatoon 2, towards the end of her eighth-grade year, after a Splatoon character caught her attention in a game of Super Smash Bros, another Nintendo game.
“I found a cute character in the character selection, and I was like, ‘I want to try this,’” Burns recalled. Since then, she’s clocked in around 1,100 hours of gameplay.
“My initial experience was: it’s hard, it’s fun and there are some people who are real a**holes — in a good way, of course,” she said. Burns praised the majority of Splatoon’s community for being beginner-friendly and welcoming.
“It’s not like they’re going to beat you up because you’re bad,” Burns said. “The more serious players have fun leading new players around and helping them.”
However, Burns said she finds it frustrating that the game relies heavily on motion controls.
“I don’t like the fact that the developers are more biased toward motion controls,” Burns said. “The joystick controls are very jerky, and I feel like that’s unfair to players who have wrist injuries. I injured my wrist from using motion controls, so I had to stop playing for a while.”
Aside from gameplay, Burns also collects figurines of Splatoon characters. Her favorite characters are Marina and Pearl since they bring back memories of when she first started playing Splatoon 2. She is also working to complete her collection of Splatoon’s manga series and art books.
“It made my life a lot more interesting because I can have a hobby,” Burns said. “I will never regret joining the community as it provided a much-appreciated enthusiasm that has helped me in everyday life.”
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, released in 2013, redefined the zombie video game genre with it’s heart-wrenching story of family, community, and loss. Blending fast, skill-based combat with emotional storylines and character interaction, it has captivated audiences and spawned a spinoff hit TV show. Freshman Nihal Matloo (he/him) described The Last of Us as a refreshing take on its genre.
“It showed me that such a classic genre of a zombie game can diverge from classic zombie games so much and can have an actual emotional story to it, instead of just ‘kill the zombies,’” Matloo said.
He first played The Last of Us at a friend’s house and fell in love. He stayed up until 5 a.m. playing, and afterward, bought the game for himself, spending a total of 30 hours on it since. After beating The Last of Us, he replayed it twice on harder difficulties.
“I’ve played it a couple of different times, and each time, I try to look at it from a different stance. Whether it’s a different character or like a governmental stance, or just the environment, I like to pay attention to different plot points.”
Despite the dour atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic world, the story still incorporates a sense of joy through the main character Ellie. During her adventures, she regains parts of her lost childhood, such as Matloo’s favorite moment in the story, when she sees a giraffe for the first time.
For Matloo, the most important part of the game is the story; however, he appreciates the balance the gameplay brings.
“I like that it’s such an emotional and wholesome story while at the same time not sacrificing the fun playing aspect,” Matloo said.
It’s not all perfect, however, as some sections of the game are too difficult, especially for beginners.
“There’s one section where there’s five of the hardest enemy type you’ve encountered up until that point, and you have to get around them,” Matloo said. “And if you’re not 100% sure how the mechanics work at that point, then it’s really difficult.”
Despite this, Matloo said he still enjoys his time with the game, and The Last of Us remains his favorite game.
“It turned out to be really good. I liked the story, the characters. It was all very engrossing.”
