A Mortician's Tale

 A Mortician's Tale - Indie Game

Source: https://laundrybear.com/

    My journey back into indie games continues. I just completed A Mortician's Tale, a delightful, inspirational, and positive experience. It was developed by Laundry Bear Games who describe themselves as "a small, independent game studio based in Toronto, Canada. We love collaborating with friends to make colourful and emotionally-impactful video games. In 2017, we released our critically-acclaimed debut title A Mortician's Tale. We are currently working on our second game."

Source: https://laundrybear.com/a-morticians-tale

    Listing 6 different awards on their presskit, I want to celebrate the death positive message of this game and the way it pulls the veil back on the funeral industry; how it's beautiful, and also some of the less ideal aspects. Having completed the game and researching its inspiration, The Order of the Good Death, I found my own beliefs and stances challenged, and in some ways changed. 

    In A Mortician's Tale you play Charlie, a recent funeral direction graduate as she starts working in the industry at Rose & Daughter's Funeral Home. Throughout the 1 hour gameplay, you prepare bodies according to the wishes of the family and/or the person. Sometimes this means cremating them, other times it means cleaning the body and prepping it for an open or closed casket. You interact with the folks mourning and pay respects to the dead. 

    I won't share more of the story, as it is short. But I do want to end by saying it gave me some chuckles, it made me experience anger, and it brought me to tears. What it lacks in complexity, it makes up in quality. I wholly suggest you take the opportunity to share in this experience, I know I'm glad I did. 

A change of pace - An Idie Game!

 Anodyne - 2013

Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=517649480360146&set=pb.100063452959824.-2207520000 

    I recently started getting my feet wet in the realm of game development. It was a childhood dream of mine, and a YouTuber showed up in my feed from Pirate Software who, thankfully, is opening the gates to game development for people who are curious in a friendly and encouraging manner. While I haven't gotten a chance to dig deeper into their main offering Heartbound, the game dev live streams have been inspirational and enjoyable. 

Source: https://www.indiedb.com/games/anodyne/images/entering-an-area#imagebox

    While I started to experiment with Godot for giggles, I dug through my library of games I've collected over the years and stumbled onto Anodyne. Seemed perfect to reintroduce me to indie games and nurture my creative muscles. It was developed and produced by Analgesic Productions using the Flixel engine, under the hands of Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka. I purchased it through a Humble Bundle distribution. 

    What immediately struck me was its inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which is a game near and dear to the hearts of many gamers, including my own. There are also flavors of Chrono Trigger and other rogue adventures out there. You journey through a series of forests, deserts, an unsettling settlement, and many more utilizing the two main tools of the journey: a broom for a weapon and shoes for jumping. 

Source: https://www.indiedb.com/games/anodyne/images/gate#imagebox

    To my delighted surprise, the puzzles were clever, and the narrative wasn't afraid to play fast and loose with the thematic vibe brushing up against horror themes, and societal criticism. At the same time, it celebrates many things that make humans weird, wonderful, and at times existential. My only criticism is that I wanted more from the ending, to rationalize the whole journey. But, sometimes that's what you get with an indie game: beauty, fun, enigma, and a reflection of someone's human experience. Humanity is messy sometimes, but there is beauty in that, just like Anodyne. 

Definitely give it a shot!

Source: https://www.indiedb.com/games/anodyne/images/anodyne-title-screen-1#imagebox