Between each level is a brief stop back at base camp, which is a fairly empty area that honestly feels like it's missing content. The shops let you spend the green gems found throughout the levels on a random piece of equipment or accessory, and...that's it. There's a map on a table to choose the next level or you can just hit the Select button to do the same thing. Sometimes there's a random chest somewhere in the scenery if you wander about. It's a good amount of space, nicely decorated, with little in it.

The world is currently in a tough place with most everybody being told to stay indoors and keep away from others in an attempt to combat the rapid spread of COVID-19. With many beginning to feel the the negative emotional affects of social distancing, it may be a good opportunity to turn to video games to participate in a new or beloved video game ripe with social interaction. As such, we've compiled a short list of titles that could help gamers come together during this temporary new world. Note that the intention of the article is not to make light of the pandemic, but instead provide a resource for those feeling the effects of Social Distancing to find a community to embrace.

Over the past few weeks I’ve spent a frankly irresponsible amount of time on my 3DS, a great deal of it with A Link Between Worlds . But when I wasn’t busy rescuing princesses from other princesses (or, uh, doing actual work for the site) I was delving into Bravely Default . Not just the full game, but the demo. Most of us have, at one point or another, obsessively played a demo for a game that had us hyped, but what may surprise you is that I’ve sunk over 10 hours into a single playthrough of this one. Any way you slice it, that’s a lot of content for free software. Well, I say "any way," but it comes pre-sliced, vertically.

What do I mean by that? In game development terms, a "vertical slice," is a gameplay segment of finished or near-finished quality that showcases all the planned features of a game to potential investors. At the start of a project, these are a massive sink for time and effort, since they essentially involve doing all the hard parts of finishing a game to complete one 10-minute section. Generally, they’re seen as a bad practice. However, toward the end of development, it’s a lot easier to pull assets together for a vertical slice. Of course, if you’re shopping your game around to publishers at that stage, you’re probably in a lot of trouble, but a standalone "vertical slice" can also serve as a strong alternative to a traditional demo.

Finally, the construction element is there. Minecraft ’s blocky aesthetic has constantly been compared to that of LEGO’s, and really that’s true. In fact, it’s likely that it was intended to be that way. As kids, many of us were fascinated with LEGO’s. Building castles and cars using fundamentally simple components was appealing. Even better, it breathed experimentation. It encouraged trying something new. It fed that feeling of individual creative freedom by allowing us to build something that we wanted. That idea is omnipresent in Minecraft ; it’s the crux of the construction element in the game. Simple cubes of dirt, rock or sand can be used to build everything from houses to skyscrapers to sculptures. With a little hard work, you can make your "castle of dreams." The Creative Mode, with its free movement and ample resources, is the pinnacle of this mentality; you can create what you want. And gamers have. There are hundreds of Minecraft Walkthrough videos online of people building enormous, monolithic structures with the game’s basic building pieces. Minecraft has proven that this idea can be made into something massive; gamers are guaranteed to create something when given the tools to do so.

Anyone who's played Minecraft with friends is almost guaranteed to have built a town at some point. It's a multiplayer staple, serving as a building project that everyone can collaborate on without stepping on each other’s toes. It's also a fantastic way for players to join their bases together in a meaningful way. Each building also gives the builder a chance to express their individual

Sometimes, though, developers go the extra mile and build a vertical slice to demonstrate their game. This is a lot of work – even re-using assets from the game, you’re looking at many hours of scripting and scenario design – but the payoff speaks for itself. Bravely Default’s demo is essentially its own mini-RPG, with three dungeons to conquer, five bosses to fight, and a whole bunch of enjoyable grinding to do in the interim. It has condensed versions of the streetpass and job mechanics from the main game that allow you to familiarize yourself and get to the fun quickly. The demo may take all of its assets from the main game, but it uses them to craft an experience entirely distinct from it. In doing so, it gets straight to the essence of what makes the full game fun. What’s more, if you master the demo, you get rewards to help you out in the early game, as well as a head start on streetpasses.