However, in line with the game’s namesake, the world the player travels through with the people and places they will see will be gone by the journey’s end, as some unknown cataclysm awaits them when the season ends. The game’s premise hinges then on the player’s choice and agency, deciding who or what is worth preserving in their journal before the season is over, with a mysterious story to explore and uncover. If this sounds familiar, that may be because there’s a current trend emerging from the gaming scene, especially from indie games, that deliver on experience over action.
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A Season For New Outer Wilds
The set-up of an open-world exploration game with the freedom to travel and determine one’s own path is a new style of game that’s cropped up in recent years. Going back to the 2010s and beyond, games were emerging that steered away from a mainstream stereotype of providing linear sequences peppered with action, combat, and perhaps even a few puzzles and platforming segments. Games such as Firewatch and Outer Wilds have opened a door to game design that allows players to drive their own experience instead of holding their hands, games which encourage the player to stop and smell the flowers instead of pushing them on to the next scripted sequence of events.
It is interesting that Outer Wilds is an excellent comparison for Season, as they both follow the same ethos in terms of game design and narrative. Both take place in vast, rich worlds populated by all manner of people with their own stories to tell before some cataclysm. Though there are some distinctions that could be made, from the contrast of space travel to biking around the countryside, beat for beat these two games appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet. But while Outer Wilds has already been and gone, Season appears set to take its place and carry the torch of indie studios for non-traditional gaming experiences away from the mainstream.
However, while Outer Wild was rooted in the idea of uncovering a mystery, Season seems to be offering a more nuanced, introspective take on existentialism and perseverance. Currently, all the trailers for Season focus on telling the stories of people and places, documenting them so that they last beyond the end of the season. To this end, the player is invited to photograph, record, talk, and journal anything they’d like along their journey through the game. Through the player’s agency, it is only through them that the world is recorded and saved so that the collective memory might survive, something which the State of Play trailer makes very poignantly as only what they saw.
Though there’s still some wait left before Season is released, the game is already highly anticipated by fans, especially those who are coming off the Outer Wilds DLC high. However, many seem all too happy to wait a little longer considering it was first announced back in 2020, meaning Scavenger Studios have had ample time to refine and polish Season before its launch. If trailers are anything to go off, the game already promises a charmingly stylized world full of vibrant places to explore and fascinating people to meet, all contained within the ethereal, melancholic vibe it seems to be aiming for.
Season: A Letter To The Future is set to release in fall 2022 for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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