However, as an Aries, I love to find a new game to take my attention, and right now, it’s Thunder Lotus Games’ Spiritfarer, and it is full of feels. Death is natural. Except, I think it is actually about kindness. Tumblr is a place to express yourself, discover yourself, and bond over the stuff you love. Instead, he stays on the boat until Stella is ready to go herself, making him, in a way, another Spiritfarer. It asks you to treat others with kindness because you never know when it’ll be time, and that is a good lesson now. While we see the Everdoor, we don't see what's behind it. Spiritfarer works because the entire game is built around creating these connections to the characters, all of which are complex people with tangled stories. First Snow 18. In real life, it evokes less than pleasant thoughts. Stella is the spiritfarer, and she captains a large boat to ease the dead into whatever comes next. Spiritfarer continues to pull on the player’s heartstrings as the reality of death settles on Stella’s Spirits. Video games revel in death, Spiritfarer focuses on what happens next, 20 weird and wonderful indie games for 2020. At the 2019 Xbox E3 press briefing, the first indie game shown was a vibrant, whimsical, and well-animated title known as Spiritfarer by Thunder Lotus Games. Spiritfarer explores the latter scenario, putting you on a boat full of deceased spirits to befriend as you ferry them to the next phase of their existence. Throughout the game, players will develop relationships with these characters, making it hard to let them go when the time comes. Death has been a shadow over all of us since COVID-19 became a part of our daily lives, something the makers of Thunder Lotus Games could not have known. These meals have memories for Atul, and they help him move on. That might seem a little grim for a simulation game, but Spiritfarer isn’t a typical entry in the genre. Sit down and speak to the flowers when you can. There are no cheap tricks in establishing a connection to Spiritfarer’s characters and their deaths. Want more stories like this? Thunder Lotus’s Spiritfarer, billed as “a cosy management game about dying”, might be the queerest game of 2020 so far.You take on the role of Stella, a child in a big hat who takes over from Charon as the ferrier of souls from this world to the next. Summer was the person who inspired Stella to become a nurse. That there are ways to make it a bit less meaningless. Spiritfarer is probably one of the most heartfelt, most pure games I have ever played that was a metaphor about death. It’s also crushing, scary, and complex. It’s the perfect game. I’m afraid of it — so much that I often force myself not to talk about it, as if I might speak those fears into existence. It’s a stark contrast to how I’m experiencing the grief of death in real life, but it’s comforting. Their stories unwind as they’re tended to. You play as Stella, an upbeat ferry master who is responsible for finding and helping wandering spirits pass on into the afterlife. The game is an upbeat and cheery adventure that also deals with the not-so-cheerful topics of loss and death. Editor-in-chief. Sometimes, this means making a spirit’s favorite meal. In Spiritfarer you play as Stella and are accompanied by your cat, Daffodil. Spiritfarer is an indie game about dying and how to come to terms with the inevitable. After playing Spiritfarer, I try to FaceTime with my friends or do something kind for myself because the game is a reminder that we are all in need of care. Charon passes on the torch to Stella, as it is now time for him to leave this realm between life and death. It is a wonderful complement to the sometimes isolating space that this terrible year has been. Stella was a palliative care nurse that helped to look after patients in the last days of their life. Also, you get to have a cute cat companion by your side the whole time! Stella. Each has their own story with challenges to overcome or memories that make it difficult to move on. The game begins as Charon retires, with Stella just beginning in the role. Some have puzzles gated behind abilities learned later in the game, while others are only necessary for gathering materials. The main character, Stella, becomes a "Spiritfarer" whose job is to ferry spirits of the deceased to the afterlife. Spiritfarer, a life sim about dying, does exactly that. She can come off as sarcastic and apathetic, likely an armor she wore since a young age. Still lives in Brooklyn with her over 500 Pokémon that she has Eevee trained into a mighty army. Death doesn’t come at the tip of a bullet, with numbers accumulating on a scoreboard. In the myth, spirits are transported by Charon, the ferryman, through the river and into the underworld, paying passage with a token. The game honestly feels like a hug and relaxing, with death not being this terrible thing, but framed as a liminal space before something better. It has easter eggs … It’s not a restarting point, with a loss of time and progress, as if you’ve run out of life neatly calculated in a counter […] Spiritfarer may not have a place in everyone’s media diet. You play as Stella, whose job is to take dying spirits through the Everdoor to their final death, when they’re ready. Most of the characters on the ship, picked up throughout the game’s watercolor world, are Stella’s friends and family. The game was reviewed on PC using a download code provided by Thunder Lotus. But they do help the spirits come to terms with their deaths, and ease them into the afterlife as they work through their own grief, anger, and confusion. One of my favorite things about Spiritfarer, and in a sense the saddest part, is that hugging becomes a way to bond with the spirits. Spiritfarer is out now for multiple platforms. You get to bond with these spirits, and then you let them move on to that better plane. She died with Stella by her side. In Spiritfarer we explore the mysterious ways of parting with your living self. Now it has received a surprise release, with a portion of the games media having been playing it for the past two weeks. First Snow 18. Playing a game where you get to focus on making meaningful memories and caring for people as they are getting ready to pass on is macabre, but Spiritfarer doesn’t linger on death as a haunting thing. The spirits talk about what they’re afraid of, or the things they’ve done wrong in their past. Stella controls the boat through a map at the ship’s helm, but there’s no need for players to guide it through the world. Where the game distinctly diverges from its predecessors, however, is how it deals with death. You play as Stella who has been appointed as the new “Spiritfarer”, a modern retelling of Greek Mythology and the River Styx. With its colorful visuals and serene atmosphere, I found myself forgetting that Spiritfarer is about death … But I played Spiritfarer at a time when I could not ignore death; in the middle of a pandemic that has killed (and continues to kill) numbers of people I can hardly comprehend. The investment in these characters, though, is what makes the rote mechanisms of Spiritfarer’s gameplay feel worthwhile, because those connections happen organically. Spiritfarer is probably one of the most heartfelt, most pure games I have ever played that was a metaphor about death. Thunder Lotus. Spiritfarer puts a more heartwarming spin on the concept. Spiritfarer, an upcoming indie adventure game from Thunder Lotus, is all about dealing with death. Spiritfarer is a game about death, but in a way that’s different than most video games. But in Spiritfarer, it’s the action of traveling to islands to collect resources, then harvesting them into something usable, that is the core. One of the oldest embodiments of death is the ancient Greek boatman Charon, who ferried souls across the River Styx and into the underworld. Alternative Character Interpretation: Hades questions why she chose to associate with death so much, acting as Spiritfarer and a pallative care nurse in real life according to the artbook. You play as a young girl named Stella, who takes over for Charon and becomes the new Spiritfarer. Craft your way through farm, … Spiritfarer explores the latter scenario, putting you on a boat full of deceased spirits to befriend as you ferry them to the next phase of their existence. Thunder Lotus’s Spiritfarer, billed as “a cosy management game about dying”, might be the queerest game of 2020 so far.You take on the role of Stella, a child in a big hat who takes over from Charon as the ferrier of souls from this world to the next. In Spiritfarer you play as the Spiritfarer Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased, along with Daffodil the cat. Next: Spiritfarer: Where to Find Every Gem Location Spiritfarer is … What they do have is Stella's friendship to make their resignation to their fate a little less bitter. And days before receiving the review code, a dear family member died tragically and unexpectedly, the grief of which made starting the game almost too painful. He ponders whether she was hoping to conquer death or grow accustomed to it for when her time came. Instead of relying archetypal morbidity, Spiritfarer punches you in the heart and makes you cry, all in a cozy, Ghibli-style setting. And then there’s the oil, necessary for frying the chicken — that must be harvested from sunflower seeds grown from the flowers in the garden, which are crushed down into an oil. These additions, which include orchards and a massive crusher for grinding things to dust, stack precariously on top of one another, a slow game of Tetris, as shapes get more complex and harder to fit in the constrained space of the ship. Unlike other spirits, he is grown in a Garden from the Mysterious Seed, which can be fished out of the water after escorting three spirits to the Everdoor. In Spiritfarer, you play Stella, who is, in essence, a video game version of Charon the ferryman who carries the dead across the River Styx in Greek mythology. In Spiritfarer you play as the Spiritfarer Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased, along with Daffodil the cat. Spiritfarer is based on classical Greek mythology: the story of the river Styx, a waterway that’s said to be a pathway between Earth and the afterlife. You play as Stella who has been appointed as the new “Spiritfarer”, a modern retelling of Greek Mythology and the River Styx. Make a little something for the ones you love. Helping a spirit become ready to go involves cooking for them, hugging them, and building them a home on your enormous houseboat. Helping a spirit become ready to go involves cooking for them, hugging them, and building them a home on your enormous houseboat. Stanley is a spirit character in Spiritfarer. That’s not to say, though, that in Spiritfarer that these acts of caring labor fix the spirit’s current or past problems — they don’t. You get tasked to become the Spiritfarer. Honestly, it might seem silly in these times to be soothed by a game about death, but Spiritfarer seems oddly necessary. In death, Stella cares for the spirits not ready to move on, much the same as she did in life. Because he's already passed through the Everdoor, he can't go again. He ponders whether she was hoping to conquer death or grow accustomed to it for when her time came. In 2017, he jumped at the chance to join studio Thunder Lotus to lead the Spiritfarer development team. Spiritfarer has a lot to say about both life and death, and the way it says it is largely well done. Spiritfarer follows this story closely, as Stella and her cat Daffodil take over from Charon. One Good Thing: Spiritfarer is an adorable video game about life and death It’s a little like The Sims on a boat, except your Sims are animals who’ve recently died. Almost every day, I am thankful for my Nintendo Switch. Every spirit Stella takes on has to pass through the Evergate, their death no less inevitable in this strange purgatory they’ve all found themselves within. When medicine could no longer help them. There’s a big, emotional payoff for embracing the mechanics of the game, however many times you’ve visited the docks to harvest iron ore. Spiritfarer, developed and published by Thunder Lotus Games, is a relaxing management game about death. But it's not what you're thinking. The main character, Stella, becomes a "Spiritfarer" whose job is to ferry spirits of the deceased to the afterlife. Spiritfarer represents a very successful combination of exploration, questing, crafting, and life simulation. OnlySP sat down with Jo-Annie Gauthier, the art director at Thunder Lotus Game, to play through the demo at PAX West 2019. At no point during Spiritfarer did I feel helpless, like there was not something I could do to bring some sort of relief to the spirits on board the ship. You work for it, which helps ease in the pain and grief of it all. —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—, Have a tip we should know? It’s not entirely unlike how you’d manage an island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, slowly accumulating the materials needed to tend to your creation. Death doesn’t come at the tip of a bullet, with numbers accumulating on a scoreboard. This is where the “cozy management” of “a cozy management game about dying” comes in. Gwen grew up in a dysfunctional yet aristocratic household, having a strained relationship with her father. Now there’s Spiritfarer, a game about death and grief, a theme developer Thunder Lotus Games led with throughout its development and marketing: “a cozy management game about dying.”. Spiritfarer is a bit of a thematic oddity. Spiritfarer is about death. They’re challenging in ways I haven’t seen often in video games. Some people think of death as an ending, while others view it as a beginning. Sometimes they’re angry — at Stella or others on the ship. We caught up with developers Thunder Lotus Games to discuss how the game tackles death. It’s a heavy subject — something I try not to think about usually, since it’s a constant source of dread for me (especially now between a worldwide pandemic and the ever-constant threat of climate change). Spiritfarer doesn't seek to answer the difficult unknowns about death and what comes after. But it's not what you're thinking. After a brief appearance at the beginning of Spiritfarer, Charon’s own time has come, and he passes along the role of taking the dead on their final journey to you, Stella, and her cat Daffodil. In Spiritfarer you play as Stella, a young girl with the eponymous job of Spiritfarer, helping a fantastic cast of animal passengers to be content and tie up loose ends before their final voyage beyond death and through the Everdoor. While this is a story of death and loss on its face, this game gives us a path of living life in its minutia, all the way to the end. We have connections that we could be building and nurturing even as we maintain social distance—which is important because there are still people we love here. On top of dealing with death, dying and the afterlife, Spiritfarer also touches on other difficult topics through the characters who board Stella's boat. Instead, Stella learned about Buck through her sister, who was friends with him before his untimely death during their teenage years. It’s a management game that manages to turn a game about death in something cozy, heartwarming and relaxing. Spiritfarer is pitched as a ‘cozy management game about death’. Have a tip or story idea? Spiritfarer Easter Eggs: Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, & More. Resources collected throughout the world are brought back to the ship and processed through these additions to the boat, whether that’s turning sugar and flour into a cake, or flattening glass into sheets. But it's not what you're thinking. You’ll take people … You play Spiritfarer Stella, the mistress of the ferry to the deceased. Spiritfarer is a game about death, but in a way that’s different than most video games. Build a ship to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. In video games, it often marks failure. In Spiritfarer, you play Stella, who is, in essence, a video game version of Charon the ferryman who carries the dead across the River Styx in Greek mythology. Email us. Stella is the new Spiritfarer after all, and it’s her job to care for them and to see their final requests fulfilled before they depart forever. “We all die, everything dies, every living thing dies.” Nicolas Guérin is reassuring me. Spiritfarer is a game about death, but in a way that’s different than most video games. I can understand why most video game developers would choose not to address these realities: a first-person shooter would be an entirely different game if the bodies didn’t simply disappear into the ether as more and more pile up. They share things they need to complete. Charon, the previous Spiritfarer, gives Stella an artifact called the Everlight. Except, I think it is actually about kindness. Despite the sombre content, Spiritfarer is a joy to play. The concept of death usually isn’t a comfortable one. The process of acquiring these things requires multiple trips to multiple islands, looking for vendors who sell each of these meat products. Spiritfarer is a treat to dive into, with engrossing management gameplay, mysterious lands to explore, and an unforgettable story about life, death, and learning to let go. Spiritfarer is a sincere management game about death. Go out and catch lighting in a bottle once in a while; play with the young ones; confront the swarms of fear head on. It’s that sort of help — in being able to help someone figure something out for themselves — that makes the repetition of management and care feel so rewarding. Some are not, but each has something they need — something Stella must provide. Since the game is indicated to be the Dying Dream of a palliative care nurse, this makes a grim sort of sense: in death, as in life, she can't save her patients and loved ones, only comfort them. Thunder Lotus Games’ Spiritfarer is described as a "cozy game about death," and it’s an apt description. Make a little something for the ones you love. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here. Stella is the spiritfarer, and she captains a large boat to ease the dead into whatever comes next. Spiritfarer, Thunder Lotus’ latest release, bears their established 2D style. tips@themarysue.com. She travels between islands in the Spiritfarer world, meeting spirits that are stuck and need help in moving on. In Spiritfarer you play as Stella and are accompanied by your cat, Daffodil. At the 2019 Xbox E3 press briefing, the first indie game shown was a vibrant, whimsical, and well-animated title known as Spiritfarer by Thunder Lotus Games. But, if there is a message to be found, it would be that “death is terrible but incredibly ordinary. Spiritfarer is a management game that follows Stella and her cat, Daffodil, as they go island to island on a large ship, helping lost spirits pass on. It’s not a restarting point, with a loss of time and progress, as if you’ve run out of life neatly calculated in a counter […] Welcome back to the chill boat with the not-chill cat! And none of the spirits are purely good or bad; some are people leaving a mess behind for others to grapple with. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games. While this is a story of death and loss on its face, this game gives us a path of living life in its minutia, all the way to the end. Many video games depict death in these ways. That there are ways to make it a bit less meaningless. It identifies her as the Spiritfarer, and gives her some special abilities, like using energy as if it were a physical tool. Between Animal Crossing, Hades, and Octopath Traveler, my video games have kept me distracted from the chaos that is the outside world. Hugging is one of the few things you can’t do in Animal Crossing, so doing it in this game honestly makes me so happy. Spiritfarer is an indie management sim and sandbox action game developed and published by Canadian studio Thunder Lotus Games and released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Stadia on August 18, 2020. Of course, this is far from the only game to deal with death and grief, but rather than playing as a character who cuts through enemies, struggles to cope with a loss or both , Spiritfarer never basks in the dismal. Sit down and speak to the flowers when you can. 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