There is no dialogue in Old Man’s Journey, no speaking, no subtitles, no nothin! But, in reality, it really doesn’t need it.
Old Man’s Journey tells us the story of yes, an old man, as he travels to reconnect with the family he left behind. Through memories and flashbacks, we learn what lead him to his little house on the seashore and, ultimately, what brings him home to his family again.
Continue reading “Video Game Review | Old Man's Journey”
The loss of my Grandmother still brings me to tears, even years after her death.
I began playing The First Tree knowing that it was going to be an experience dealing with the loss of a close loved one, but I didn’t realize just how much it would affect me.
The First Tree follows a fox mom as she searches for her kits and, at the same time, tells of how a young couple is dealing with the loss of the husband’s (Joseph) father. As you travel through the wilderness, you uncover memory fragments of Joseph’s youth growing up with his father in Alaska.
What helps this game stand out from other Indie titles is that it doesn’t shy away from the topic of death, instead dealing with this loss with dignity and kindness.
Losing a loved one is probably one of the most difficult situations a person will ever go through. My family has gone through a number of deaths in recent times and seeing all of the encouraging messages from across the world was almost cathartic.
You never stop missing those you’ve lost, but you will always carry a piece of them with you to remember them by.
I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack and this one is absolutely magical, enhancing the ever changing feelings of loss, hope, longing, and finally acceptance. The music in this game had me tearing up more than once.
The controls for the game were easy to grasp and I was quickly racing through each level, jumping to catch butterflies, trotting across grassland and through forests, and generally gallivanting around just to see the gorgeous scenery.
Title: The First Tree
Developer: David Wehle
Genre: Adventure, Third person
Platform: PS4
Rating: ★★★★★
I love how the animation for this defeated Architect in Mass Effect: Andromeda looks.
So pretty!
I was cleaning out my inbox and found an email from Dictionary.com from way back in 2014! Yeah, I know I should clean my inbox out more often, lol. Anyways the word of the day for November 30 was specter, of which the British spelling is spectre…
Now, some of you may be aware of this but I’ve been playing a lot of Mass Effect recently and the first thing I thought of when I saw the word of the day was the video game that I’d (by November 2014) devoted more than 100 hours of my life to.
In the Mass Effect trilogy you play a Commander in the human Alliance Navy. Commander Shepard is a Spectre, one of the elite agents that answer only to the Citadel Council and basically have free-rein to get their assignments done in whatever way they feel is the best way.
This means that you can either play as a Paragon Shepard and unite the galaxy by building alliances or you can choose to be Renegade Shepard and, basically, rule through fear and bullying. Either method will bring you to the climactic end of the Mass Effect trilogy and no matter which you choose, you may have lost some friends along the way.
I’m on my third play-through of this trilogy and I’ve played mostly as Paragon because many of the Renegade choices are actually quite distasteful to me.
Have you played the Mass Effect trilogy? What did you think about it?
The other Spectre that came to mind is the recently announced addition to the Bond movie franchise. Starring Daniel Craig as Bond, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as the Quartermaster, and Ralph Fiennes as M (you will be missed, Judi Dench).
Based on the highly popular book series by Ian Fleming, this latest movie has me excited before I’ve even seen the first trailer or stills! I’ve enjoyed the Craig-Bond movies and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one…
I may have to go back and watch all the movies that came before, just to be prepared. Also because I haven’t seen the Sean Connery movies in quite a while and… well, Sean Connery!
Meandering Michelle 