SEASON: letter to the future

SEASON: A letter to the future at its core pure walking simulator, as your only goal is to travel and explore the highly atmospheric world. The discovery of the country around you, the people you meet, new ideas and views of the world shortly before it ends. Really don’t expect any crazy action, this is a game to play when you feel like petting 9 cows in a row all the time.

You take on the role of Estelle, a young girl from a gated village high in the mountains. Last night your friend had a dream that was a sign that the season you are living in will soon end. What does this mean? That the world as you know it will change completely, and the vast majority of people will forget what this season actually looked like, how it felt, and what it was like to live in it.

Estelle has never been outside her village, so she has no idea what to expect from the change of season. But she wants to find out, so she is allowed to leave her native village, but on the condition that she document everything she finds for future generations. So you are equipped diary, camera and voice recorder and go on a quest to not only explore, but record the instantaneous sight and sounds of the land, people, art, and buildings you come across.

So the whole history of SEASON revolves around change and everything close to it – fear of it, uncertainty and the desire to preserve history. When you find old dilapidated buildings, you wonder what the world was like and what the people were like when these buildings were created. As soon as you come across a member of the Gray Hands group, who, albeit a little insecure, but nevertheless enthusiastically talks about how the new season will be better than the current one, you wonder about his view of the world, and about what and how it is is likely to change. Throughout the title, you will meet several people who will be your talk about what they remember from previous seasons. Hearing about the habits and customs of people is a wonderful contrast to discovering a world that is currently alien to you and how its inhabitants think now.

On the audiovisual side, SEASON is nothing to be ashamed of. Developers Scavengers Studio were heavily inspired by oil painting and created seemingly minimalist landscapes, but in fact they hide more than enough details . Especially thanks to the skillful use of different colors, each area looks unique and alive, whether it is an old temple, a dilapidated bridge or a fruit farm. Both the styling of individual characters and even the soundtrack are made in the same minimalist style. He will accompany you only most of the game time. pleasant atmosphere in the form of the sound of rain, the singing of birds or the movement of leaves in the wind, but in some places you will come across, for example, a music box that fills the entire area with its music. The result is a very soft soundtrack that makes me feel ASMR sleep music.

What, in my opinion, distinguishes SEASON: A letter to the future the most from other relaxing games is exactly what the existence of a diary. While in many other storyboards you really have nothing to do but walk around and listen, here you write down. No matter what catches your eye while traveling. It doesn’t matter what you are photographing or recording. As a result, you create your own diary, where you can add the most important thing for you moments to keep for future generations. Filling in and decorating the pages of the magazine is as much a part of the game as the exploration itself, and I really enjoyed it, to say the least. This is a great indicator of what you have already done, and subconsciously pulls you further and further, because in just a few pages you will have a desire to read this little book of yours to the end.

The only case where it is not up to you what information you place in a magazine is pages containing important information regarding the history of mankind. There are only a few of these pages in the game, but they serve as a great way to easily pass you some undistorted view of surrounding events, as you will often be asked to find specific documents. However, finding them is not particularly difficult. Although in the second half of the game you will be able to navigate by classic cards, which you hid in the log, SEASON, fortunately, does not contain pointers. All hints of where, what to look for, heard during a call, or you can find them as docs. Thanks to the excellent mechanics of the bike, this was not even a big problem for me. easy return. While I personally didn’t mind going back and forth occasionally, if you’re sensitive to that, then yes, SEASON will require you to take a smaller step back, so keep an eye on that.

This is a problem that bothered me too, they were frequent glitches, who I mostly met in the second half of the game. While the individual characters you meet in SEASON are beautifully and believably written, your faith in them is quickly shaken when they load up next to a chair during the cutscene and then they travel half a meter in the airto take the correct position over the chair. I’ve had enough of this bullshit knocking you out of the game. Luckily, I didn’t run into any major technical issues that would force me to stop playing. The worst thing that happened to me was the brief moment when Estelle she decided to use telepathy. The subtitles were visible at the bottom of the screen, but her voice could not be heard. For me personally, as a result, this did not pose any particular problems, because after two sentences, Estelle realized again and spoke classically, but you understand. the technical side of the game is surprisingly flawlessalthough it is mechanically a very simple name.

So how to sum it all up? SEASON: Letter to the Future is a very interesting title you will complete within six to twelve hours depending on how much you procrastinate. But since it’s a relaxing game with an absolutely amazing art style, a carefully crafted world, and beautiful, unique characters whose you can listen to stories long and deep conversations should linger. After all, this is a game about getting to know each other, so if you get it, get to know it properly. Although technically the game isn’t as perfect as it should be, its other advantages probably make up for these shortcomings. Recommended game for 9/10 points.