This game unironically changed me.

You see, I spent an entire night doing a playthrough of this while streaming via discord. Now, you see, I'm a bit of an impulsive person. I tend to rush myself and often feel stressed about things when I perceive that I'm falling behind. But as I rolled past countless cacti and shrubbery on my way to Vegas, I began to feel a strange sense of peace. I knew from the getgo that this whole process would take 8 hours (it actually took 7:58 according to the clock timer), that there was nothing I could do to really speed up the process, and that I might as well enjoy myself as much as I can.

I entertained myself with a 7 hour playlist of all sorts of music, as well as the banter of my friends. Time stretched on, and for those 8 hours, I, a person easily distracted and frequently unable to truly focus, felt perfectly in the moment. And the strange thing about it is that I didn't feel as bored as I imagine Penn and Teller originally intended. I strangely felt as though my life was slowed down and that I had gained precious time to reflect upon personal things that I do not wish to say here. For me personally, Desert Bus was as much of a spiritual journey as it was a physical (well, digital) one.

I know this game is all one big joke, and to be honest I'm playing into it a bit and deliberately overblowing things, but I would also be lying if it didn't REALLY leave an impact on me. If life is stressing you out and you're going through a rough period, and you have a chance to kill 8 hours in one sitting, boot up Desert Bus, launch a playlist, and just relax as much as you can. It may very well give you the opportunity to ask yourself big, important questions, and more importantly, the opportunity to answer them.

Just don't get so deep in thought that you crash the bus. That would suck.