Night shifts, tea from a thermos, and a village where cherry blossoms bloom: how I fell in love with a game on Telegram

Hi, Gamer.ru! I’ve been reading the blogs here for a long time, but this is my first time writing one, so please go easy on me. My name is Vera, I’m an ICU nurse, and I work 24-hour shifts. Those who know, know: during a night shift, there are hours when everything is quiet, the monitors beep steadily, and you’re not allowed to fall asleep. I used to spend those hours rereading the same books or mindlessly scrolling through my feed.

Sakura Village. I see this view more often now than the view from the window of the staff room

When I was a student, I adored Japanese RPGs on handheld consoles. Mine broke ages ago, and I never got around to buying a new one: sometimes there were more important things, sometimes I couldn’t justify the expense. Then one morning, just before dawn, a colleague showed me something bright on her phone, with cherry blossoms and an archer. “Where’s that?” I asked. “On Telegram,” she replied. “The @GameFlyAngelsBot bot.”

Let me say upfront: I don’t know the people who made the game. I’m writing simply because I really want to share it. I’ll include the link at the end.

First Impressions

![“Ice Wings” up close. Moments like these are why I love Japanese aestheticsFIt felt wonderful: I was figuring out the game again and getting better at it.

Sakura Village. I see this view more often now than the view from the staff room window

A Big World Ahead

Recently, I opened the world map and saw that beyond Sakura Village there’s Akiba, with roads leading even farther. It’s like turning a page in a favorite book and realizing there’s still a long way to go before the end. I can already see the Events and Guild tabs in the menu, and I can’t wait for the day when I can join a guild with my colleague.

I’m also touched by the world chat. At four in the morning, when the whole city is asleep, someone is always writing there. Night owls of every profession, unite!

How I Play During My Shift

I’ll tell you a little about my routine in case it’s useful to anyone. My shift starts at eight in the evening. I don’t even think about the game before midnight: rounds, orders, IVs. Things usually quiet down sometime after one in the morning, and that’s when I make tea from my thermos, sit down at the nurses’ station, and open Telegram. Fifteen minutes for a couple of quests, then I’m back on rounds. Then another ten minutes while we wait for test results. The game doesn’t mind these stop-and-start sessions at all: everything is saved, quests wait patiently, and auto-battle calmly finishes what it started.

I really like that there’s nothing to install. My work phone is old, with almost no storage left, and big games just won’t fit on it. But this bot opens in a couple of seconds, like an ordinary chat. The interface is clear and easy to read: the current quest is on the left, skills are at the bottom, and the menu is on the right. Even with tired eyes in the early morning, you won’t get lost. You can see quest rewards in advance, so you always know what you’re working toward when you visit the next villager. By the end of the first week, I’d settled into my own little ritual, and the night shifts started to feel shorter.

In Closing

I never thought I’d find myself looking forward to a break so I could play. Fly Angels brought back that feeling from my youth, when you’d play through a Japanese RPG by flashlight under the covers and just couldn’t stop. Only now there’s no console or charger to worry about: it all opens right in Telegram, in a couple of seconds, on the same phone I use for work chats.

If you also love cozy worlds, beautiful skills, and characters you grow attached to, stop by Sakura Village. And tell me in the comments which class you chose and what you named your hero. I’m genuinely curious.

Play: Fly Angels on Telegram. Game website: flyangels.online.

P.S. The colleague who showed me the game now takes the same night shifts as I do. She says leveling up together is more fun.