The Glade 4.0

I just completed Spiritfarer. This is a game that where you take over for Charon and ferry others into the great beyond. Before your passengers make the journey, however, you accompany them in life and help them with various tasks and requests as they approach their end. You develop relationships with them, which at our age, will take on familiar echoes from our own experience. The gameplay loop itself is your typical farming simulator fare, but will stay very simple even though your repertoire of skills and chores grow. The game doesn't punish failure so it's easy to relax with as you go through various tasks. Some things tend to feel monotonous and I found myself trying to blast through certain portions quickly. This later only left me with regret and wishing I could go back and pay better attention during certain conversations. This of course, is a perfect metaphor for life.

Many games deal with the theme of death, but don't really do those moments justice. Spiritfarer sets itself apart in capturing the breadth of experiences in death, without losing any of the deep poignancy that comes with it. While I'm not one for tears, there were a couple occasions I was brought close to it. My son watched the first passing with me, which served as a very intimate moment between him and I as we discussed death in general, the death of my mother (whom he never met), the necessity of using our time wisely in relationships, and ultimately our faith.

All said and done, this game has the emotional weight that I feel elevates it to the level of art in how it captures the human condition. Few games have ever touched me so emotionally and left me enriched. I hope you'll find it just as emotionally rewarding as I did.

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The Dude abides.