Why I Try Mainstream Games: Goat Simulator

I used to be one of those people that hate mainstream things. I don't know if it's because of the constant hearing of them or the fact that I have had periods in my life where I've been a bit of a killjoy Grinch. Whatever the reason, I know in my heart of hearts that I would have never tried Goat Simulator back then. 

There was something about the fact that it was always in weird memes or pictures that I kind of felt I had experienced everything there was to experience through others' posts. It's a game where you're a goat, and you do weird things; I couldn't imagine how I could ever spend more than 30 minutes on it, let alone find the right moment to spend on it.

Then, a few weeks back, my wife told me that Xbox Game Pass was on a huge discount, and that she'd been looking through the library and thought there were some pretty awesome titles. I would be lying if I said I immediately went to play it and not the 10 other different games I tried first, but eventually, curiosity killed the cat; this was a perfect opportunity for me to find out what was up with all the hype.

Well, my first time playing, I spent almost an entire hour just running around cackling at the way I could drag people from their legs with my tongue. I also beat the crap out of a bunch of other goats in a fighting ring and then grabbed the last one (who was like the boss of goat lucha) and dragged it across the field by its throat. The playthrough ended only because it was sleep time, and I had to leave, not because I was anywhere near done with the game. 

The next day I played a little more and somehow accidentally stumbled upon my very own castle and got crowned queen. By this point, I totally got the hype. Goat Simulator is random and silly, yeah, but I assure you, you cannot fathom how much until you play it. Additionally, it may seem like one might get bored after a few minutes of randomness, but the game has its way of reeling you in over and over through new things, like a kid in a room full of toys. One second you'll be bouncing on a trampoline trying to see if you can reach space (because at that point, I felt like anything was possible), and the next second you're dragging all types of things into a demonic circle trying to summon Satan. The game is just too random to predict, which ends up with a wild goose hunt for weird stuff to experience. 

This is exactly the reason why I don't deny mainstream things anymore. I learned that, for the most part, if there's something a lot of people like, there's usually a very good reason behind it. Even when, from the outside, it looks kind of useless and a bit boring. Sure, sometimes humanity fails you and something actually lame becomes mainstream, but I'd rather try it out than miss out on something like Goat Simulator ever again.