I don’t think it changed the way I look back on those memories, exactly, but it was really nice to revisit them.
In a way, making the game felt like a palette cleanser after her wake and funeral. Those had become some of my most recent memories of her, and I didn’t want the image I kept returning to to be her in a coffin.
Working on Angler’s Wake gave me a reason to spend time thinking about the things we actually shared while she was alive; videogames, fishing, the little things I learned from her, and the time we had together.
I think it helped move those memories back to the front a little. Not replacing the harder ones, but reminding me that those weren’t the memories that defined our relationship.