At the age of 57, my mother’s usage of electronic devices is mostly limited to two things -- her phone for the family WhatsApp chat and her iPad for watching Korean dramas.

So it was perhaps to be expected that she gave me this reaction when I told her that I wanted to play a PlayStation4(PS4) game with her, in the hopes of widening her options for entertainment.

“I tell you first hor, I’m very blur, I’m not like your friend who can be so quick, so you don’t expect me to be anything fantastic, OK?”

We ended up playing a game about moving furniture

We ended up playing Moving Out, which, as its title suggests, is about moving furniture onto a truck, with players taking on the role of labourers within a moving company.

The game features a total of 30 levels, and requires you to shift all of the furniture under a certain time limit, so you don’t have to worry too much about being gentle with the furniture -- a fact that the game wryly references with loading screen lines such as “No lawsuits since last week!”

And I soon found out what my mother meant when she said that she was not going to be a quick learner.

The tutorial for my mother began at the character selection screen

When you start a new game on Moving Out, there is a tutorial level to help you familiarise with the controls about moving around and picking up furniture.

For my mother however, the tutorial began at the character selection screen, more specifically the PS4 controller itself.

“How do you change characters? Why does this controller have so many buttons? Am I red or blue?”

Suffice to say, this soon drew out the rest of my family to the couch to view the spectacle of my mother, long subjected to her nagging on many things, now struggling to figure out left from right on the controller.

“Are you sure she can even get through the tutorial stage?” said my father, laughing at the sight.

Guiding my mother through the tutorial level became a new kind of amusement for my family

As such, the tutorial to familiarise my mother with the controller carried over into the actual tutorial level, much to the amusement of my other family members who seized on the rare opportunity to laugh as hard as they could at her.

This resulted in the following moments:

“What’s the square button?” she asked.

“It’s literally the square button on the controller,” replied my sister.

“Where’s the X button?”

“It’s the button on the right, at the bottom -- you know, the purple X button,” added my brother.

Attempting the first level and failing

My mother was determined to show that she could master the game.

So we started the first level, which consists of shifting 16 pieces of furniture from a one-room house onto the moving truck, within six minutes and thirty seconds.

And off she went, pressing the X’s and the Square’s like a real pro-gamer, intensely focusing on the shifting of furniture, drowning out all sound till she was one with the game.

Unfortunately, we lost. Quite badly.

At this point, my mother threw in the towel, stating, “Ok it’s already reaching 10pm and I’m tired, You all can go and play,” with the rest of my family members laughing, and my father feeling vindicated.

Still made for a good family-bonding event

While the PS4 might not be a go-to entertainment option for my mother anytime soon, playing Moving Out with her still became some quality family time, perhaps because of the sheer novelty of watching her play.

And in any case, it appears that the game has now caught the interest of my father who keeps asking my siblings and I to join him. Perhaps I might even ask my mother to try her hand at the game once again.

It’s also worth noting that PlayStation is currently holding a Days of Play promotion for the PS4.

As part of PlayStation’s annual celebration of games and gamers, there are discounts on both hardware and games.

For hardware, this includes:

• PS4 500GB, Comes with free DualShock 4 Wireless Controller S$399
• PS4 Pro God of War™ / The Last of Us™ Remastered Bundle with two DualShock 4 Wireless Controller S$519 from S$619
• DualShock 4 Wireless Controller S$54.90 from S$79.90 (selected colors only)

As for games, this includes:

• Death Stranding Standard Edition S$54.90 from S$79.90
• Nioh 2 Standard Edition S$54.90 from S$79.90
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice S$48.90 from S$69.90
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Game of the Year S$37.90 from S$54.90
• Dreams Universe S$37.90 from S$54.90
• Days Gone S$37.90 from S$54.90
• God of War™ HITS ​S$19.90 ​from S$28.90
• The Last of Us™ Remastered HITS ​S$19.90 ​from S$28.90
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End™ HITS ​S$19.90 ​from S$28.90
• Ratchet & Clank™ HITS ​S$19.90 ​from S$28.90
• PlayStation Plus 12 Month Membership ​+ Free four months

This sponsored article was brought to you by PlayStation Asia.

Top photos by Matthias Ang