I had a lot of old drafts that I for various reasons never actually published. Some of them probably because they were shit. Some of them just cause I never got round to editing them. I’ve picked a few that I thought had some merit. They are hopelessly out-of-date but they still made chuckle/think. Enjoy.

Should have been published: 2021

Snowrunner has taught me three big capital-t Truths

• The solution to a problem is never to get angry.
• The solution to a problem is rarely to put on blinders and double down on what has proven not to work.
• The solution to a problem is often to accept that the way forward is to double back and try another way. Even when the end goal seems within easy reach.

[2026 note: I wish. I absolutely haven’t learned any of those things yet.]

Snowrunner’s lessons can seem boring at first glance – nobody should get excited by being told to play it safe and slow – but they are satisfying to live by when they pay dividends in the form of making it back without cheating/assistance. Maybe it’s my age showing.

And despite an abysmal track record with these kinds of ‘life lessons’, in Snowrunner I accept them and live by them. Whatever black magic the game has at its disposal, it works impressively well.

An example. I got stuck in the driveway

Snowrunner works without a quicksave system. It is better without a quicksave system. A quicksave system would ruin it because it would encourage a more reckless trial-and-error approach. As it is there is trial-and-error in Snowrunner but the backup in case of error is in-game – it’s another vehicle. With a quicksave system, it’s my last quicksave. The trial is also far more careful. It’s looking over your should to see if there is a tree you can latch onto to pull you back in case things go awry. It’s not keep going untill something unforeseen goes wrong. I know what trouble looks like and I’m on the lookout for it.

It’s an easy leap to say that that proves no game should have a quicksave system. Snowrunner definitely proves the old Morrowind manual adage of rolling with the setbacks. I think a major reason the absence of it works here is the absence of time pressure. In fact, I would say the absence of time altogether. Yes, time passes, day turns to night and there a few time trials. But Snowrunner’s world feels outside of time to me. There is no other traffic, there is no movement in the game but my own. Nothing changes over time. Nobody is any the worse of, if a job that should take a few hours ends up taking two days and I’m not even penalized in pay-off. There a no leaderboards to remind me that l337gam3r88 did it better or faster.

It puts me in mind of the reason I dislike fitness trackers. And so many other areas where performance is measured and weighed. The common denominator is that everything is reduced to one dimension, the dimension that is the easiest to measure. How quickly did you get it over with? Not: Did it feel satisfying? Are you happy with your result? Does the outcome meet your needs? Did you learn something useful?

Last night I came to the rescue of a stuck truck (a struck?) with my little pickup. Working together they managed to haul a trailer over dirt roads and through mud back to the motel in the middle of night. It was slow and cumbersome and not optimised in any way. I made it back with 10 gallons out of 240 left in the tank of the truck.

I am happy with my rescue action. It felt satisfying to pull off. The result is that my truck is home safe. I learned a lot about how well the different vehicles handle in various terrain. I learned to be patient.