They say that one of the best things about being in your twenties is reclaiming old hobbies and passions, but without the shame and bullying from your childhood. I can definitely say that this is true for me; after a period of several years that involved vehemently rejecting everything I perceived as uncool, I am now officially and unapologetically proud of my interests. I am incapable of hearing a One Direction song without singing along and feeling a pang of nostalgia for the years I spent genuinely believing I was Niall Horan’s soulmate, and I am currently in the midst of rereading The Hunger Games for my dissertation. I also recently rediscovered my love for Minecraft, which provided hours and hours of entertainment when I was younger, and is doing the exact same job for me now.

No other game provides as many possibilities as Minecraft does. You can build a cute cottage and spend your days farming wheat, or you can venture into the caves and slaughter as many monsters as you want to. You can spend hours fighting with your friends, or you can dedicate your life to exploring every biome the game has to offer.

I distinctly remember the days when I would come home from a hard day of extreme intellectual struggle at primary school (being a ten-year-old is hard) and log straight onto my world with my younger brother, instantly feeling calm and at peace upon hearing the first few notes of the iconic soundtrack. Despite these fond memories, I somehow forgot about Minecraft’s existence for a while, but rediscovered my love for it in my first year of university when my boyfriend and I realised that we had both grown up playing it. I remember the exact sense of comfort and warmth I felt when I logged back into my childhood account for the first time, accompanied by amazement over how much it had changed and improved since my last adventures in the game. Minecraft improves significantly with each new update (special shoutout to Caves and Cliffs) and I cannot wait to see what new changes appear in the future.