Falmung, who was born in Germany but settled in Puerto Rico when his military father wanted to return home, was huddling in his parents house when Maria began dismantling the island of Puerto Rico this past September. A few years back, his parents had invested in a diesel power generator, thanks to the rolling blackouts that constantly disrupted the area. It proved useful for for the arrival of Maria, whose widespread and lingering destruction largely destroyed Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, leaving many still without power—including Falmung.

In a dark room, on a small desk, a screen pulses to life, and Mario begins jumping. A Switch, running Super Mario Odyssey, is one of the only sources of light when the sun sets on Falmung’s small Puerto Rican apartment, sapped of electricity for months.

“When I return home [from work],” he said, “the sun is already going down and in a few minutes, everything goes dark. When the darkness hits, the silent street is filled with the roaring sound of power generators, and those houses alone are the only lights visible.”

He mentioned how much he was looking forward to playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in portable, regardless of how it looked, because it was keeping him distracted from Maria’s devastation. Though Falmung took shelter at his parents when the storm hit, he doesn’t live with them full-time. At Falmung’s apartment, there is no power.

I met Falmung, who asked to go by his Internet pseudonym after a Waypoint reader pointed me towards the _Xenoblade Chronicles 2_subreddit, where Falmung was talking with players about the criticisms leveled against the game in Switch’s portable mode. (More than others, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 doesn’t look nearly as good on the go .)

“After the hurricane hit, the lights of our house powered by the power generator were the only light that could be seen for miles,” he told me over email this week.

The 28-year-old programmer analyst and software developer spends the work week at his apartment, where he’s found solace in a new companion: his Switch. As a machine capable of running high-end console games and functioning as a portable, it’s transformed games from a hobby into an escape from Puerto Rico’s ongoing nightmare.

More than six utility poles snapped near his apartment during the hurricane, and there’s no indication when anything will be fixed. According to statusPR , which tracks the slow recovery efforts in Puero Rico, 68% of the territory’s power has been restored, but generators are one thing, poles are another. You need both.

“When I’m gaming I feel immersed in the experience and I forget all about my daily problems,” he said. “I simply do not know what I would be doing right now if I didn’t have my portable gaming devices. With no electricity, there are simply few things to do, especially at night. To me gaming is truly a beacon of hope.”

Before Maria, Falmung was largely a PC and PS4 player, with his portable devices only getting occasional use because he found them awkward. Now, they’ve become his life.

“When I return home [from work], the sun is already going down and in a few minutes, everything goes dark. When the darkness hits, the silent street is filled with the roaring sound of power generators."

Thankfully, his work has access to both a power generator and Internet, letting him charge devices before leaving for the day. The Switch’s battery tends to last him just long enough to get through the night. The next day, he charges all over again.

When the weekend arrives, he drives two hours to his parents, whose access to a generator and microwave-based Internet give Falmung a return to relative normalcy

“During this weekend is the only time when I can have a close semblance to what my life was before the hurricane,” he said.