The premise of TWEWY is about people who have died taking part in a “Reapers’ Game”, where participants of the game do daily missions over 7 days for a chance to essentially come back to life. The missions are held in Shibuya but the players of the game are essentially invisible and ephemeral to everyone but other players (think ghosts), yet they can affect the ‘real’ world (like ghosts).

I won’t go too much into the plot but it hits an almost perfect score in all aspects of a game and even has some very unique traits. There’s a reason it’s one of my favorite games of all time.

• The entire plot is incredible, unexpected, and complex but not too confusing. The premise of the “Reapers’ Game” itself is intriguing enough as is.
• The art and world/character design is great. Think street graffiti art theme.
• The music is unique and amazing in it’s own way. Not entirely sure how to describe it… but think street graffiti music.
• Love the characters (even the not-so-great-but-quirky ones) and there is a lot of character development
• The battle system is fun and everyone can have a different play style

In TWEWY, you fight enemies called “Noise”, which also can affect the ‘real’ world but are invisible to non-players. The real-time battle system is one of the reasons both games are so incredible. It’s unique. You fight using “pins” and each pin has a different power and method of activation. Pins gain experience with battle and evolve too. The original game came out on the Nintendo DS so it was touch screen heavy. Some pins would make you swipe on an enemy, others would make you tap the screen, and some even had you speak into the microphone. And this is why you play games at home in private; imagine the looks I’d get yelling at my DS on public transport.

Anyways, outside of battle, you sometimes get tasks where you have to influence non-players to think or do certain things. Often, you’re unable to influence them because they’re surrounded by Noise, which clouds their mind, thoughts, and emotions. Once you defeat them, you’re good to change their mind. Ever wanted to manipulate people? If so, then this is the game for you!

The Life Lesson

Noise can come in a lot of different forms. In TWEWY, they’re monsters. But normally when you think of noise, sound comes to mind. One of the definitions of noise is basically cacophonous, displeasant sounds, which can be different for everyone. There’s white noise, ambient noise, and even ASMR. I’m not a fan of ASMR (except ‘thocky’ mechanical keyboard clicks), so it really is noise to my ears while to others I’m sure it is music. But I LOVE ambient noise–fireplace crackles, hard rain, waves, thunder, coffee shop ambiance, and more. I study to them. I sleep to them. I game to them. I live to them.

One of my favorite purchases ever is this 99 cent fireplace app I bought for my Apple TV. It’s just a high-definition repeating video of a fireplace, along with the recorded crackling sounds. Sometimes I turn on my space heater and pretend it’s real.

But I digress. Let’s go back to the original point of all this—noise. When you hear what you consider as noise, it distracts you and kills your focus. But noise doesn’t have to be something you hear. Just like in TWEWY, you can also have noise in your thoughts. Maybe you’re having a great day and feeling super confident. Suddenly, for no reason at all (or something triggered a memory), you start thinking about that really embarrassing time 10 years ago. And just like that, you feel self-conscious and unable to think straight. That’s noise.

Or maybe someone is critiquing you to your face or behind your back

I think it goes without saying that mental noise is bad. The point of this life lesson is that this noise in your mind needs to go away if you want to be able to think clearly. And although I’m always a big proponent of being proactive versus reactive and preventing [insert example bad thing] from happening in the first place, I’d be crazy to say that preventing noise in your thoughts is easy. One day when I find a way to do it myself (or if someone would graciously enlighten me), I’ll let you all know. For now, let’s just deal with being reactive to this noise.

“Just don’t think about it!” “It’s not a big deal.” “It’s in the past!” “Stop worrying!” “Don’t be crazy.” “Just don’t listen to other people.” — what other people lacking empathy may say.

I swear this is why I sometimes just hate telling people my worries and concerns. There are times that I do need a reality check slap in the face (figuratively or literally), but not from someone who has no idea what I’m feeling.

So here’s what you CAN do. Try to “take a step back” whenever you’re not able to think or process something because your thoughts are getting too clouded. It’s helped me when I’ve been spiraling or fixating on a thought. Take a step back and look at it at all angles. Think about what you feel, what logically makes sense, what triggered the thought, a rebuttal on why that noise is useless, and essentially dissect it. Strip the thought down to it’s core. Another thing that helps is a distraction, especially if it’s not something that truly requires to be fixed. Either way, do whatever it takes to help you defeat that noise so you can start thinking more clearly!