Kind Words 2 Is The Perfect Game For This Nightmare Moment

By Elijah Gonzalez | January 15, 2025 | 12:29pm

Video Games Features kind words 2

Kind Words 2 Is The Perfect Game For This Nightmare Moment

I’m certainly not the first person to point this out, but things are not great right now! Right-wing reactionary movements are on the rise across the globe, California is on fire as moronic pundits blame “DEI” for this widespread destruction instead of climate change, and America prepares for what seems like it will be one of the most blatantly oligarchical administrations in recent memory (even more so than usual). And as a certain president-elect threatens to invade Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” it’s clear all this is just a prelude to the endless parade of exhausting controversies (and potentially much worse) to come in the next four years.

Compounding these bad times is a general increase in loneliness across American culture, which pushes many towards reactionary views while also making it difficult to cope with these circumstances. And if all that wasn’t enough, communal online spaces are in sharp decline thanks to greedy corporations and billionaires. Elon continues to mutilate Twitter beyond recognition, while Zuck has removed fact-checking from Facebook to suck up to Trump. In short, things are bad, and the internet, a place many turn to for escape, is only getting worse.

Thankfully, Popcannibal, a two-person development team consisting of Ziba Scott and Luigi Guatieri, has a partial remedy for this breakdown in online spaces. In 2019, they created Kind Words (lo-fi chill beats to write to), a digital pen pal videogame where you exchanged anonymous letters with real-world people. Against all odds, the result was a refreshingly non-toxic place where you could connect with others and be honest in an anonymous, low-pressure setting. Now, more than five years later, they released a perfectly timed follow-up in Kind Words 2 (lo-fi city pop), a game that retains the message-exchanging conceit of its predecessor while expanding on it in every way.

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While the first installment was constrained to a single small room where you sent letters back and forth with the help of a cartoon deer, this is only a starting point in the sequel. You can still exchange letters with strangers by writing messages or responding to someone else’s, but this time, there’s also an entire town to explore. Outside, there’s a street corner with a clothing shop, a bookstore where you can exchange recommendations, and a train station with plenty of stops. While walking around the block, you’ll spot players’ avatars and can hold conversations with them over multiple sessions. While all of the multiplayer is handled asynchronously, meaning you aren’t seeing other people move around in real time, this is likely very much by design, as it’s easier to moderate and eases the potential awkwardness of chatting with strangers.

And that’s not all: there are poetry challenges, a forest where you collaborate to craft sentences, a place for life tips, a cat naming contest, a personal journal, and a space called the “Wiggling Void” where you can shout things that no one will ever hear, and more. This range of activities balances out these interactions, giving space to talk about serious life issues alongside more lighthearted discussions of cartoons, books, and anything else. Each of these different areas is tied together by a cozy art style that gets across the central vibe of the experience with rounded character designs and warm color combinations as the appropriately chill lo-fi score creates a relaxing atmosphere. And while the main reason to engage with all of this is that it simply feels good to make these kinds of connections, there is also a light progression system in the form of collecting stickers; even this element relies on connecting with others as the only way to get stickers is in a letter sent by another player.

But beyond these activities and pleasant aesthetic flourishes, the most impressive element is something shared with the first game: it has an excellent community. Considering that most anonymous corners of the internet are cartoonishly terrible, it’s a little bit shocking to find one so welcoming and free of trolls. Presumably, this comes from some magic combination of moderation, game design, and the $19.99 barrier to entry. Maybe it comes down to the lack of feedback if you behave like a jerk because communication isn’t real-time, and there’s a good chance a mean letter will never reach its recipient. Or perhaps it’s because, unlike most games, this one is entirely dedicated to being a communal space. By contrast, my worst online gaming interactions almost always come from competitive environments where people are eager to throw teammates under the bus to protect their egos.

All in all, everything from the game’s structure to its visual cues provides a rare oasis of decency in a digital hellscape, and I’ve been surprised by just how rewarding it can be to share things with strangers and try to help others in turn. The game may have the aesthetics of a “cozy” game, but it doesn’t dissuade you from bringing up or responding to weighty real-life problems, less pure escapism, and more a genuine outlet for working through frustrations.

On the one hand, Kind Words 2 is still just a game and isn’t a substitute for other deeper solutions to mental health issues, like exercise, therapy, medicine, talking with loved ones, and more. But it does offer an additional means of finding peace of mind. And if nothing else, in an increasingly divided era where it’s difficult to go online without witnessing the worst bilge you’ve ever seen, this game has managed the seemingly impossible task of cultivating a genuine online community. It won’t fix all of your problems, and I’m sure at some point I’ll run into a less-than-ideal interaction, but at the very least, it’s a reminder that every stranger on the internet isn’t a malicious actor who wants to ruin your day. With community becoming harder and harder to find, it’s never been a better time for some Kind Words.

Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11 and on Bluesky @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social.