For one reason or another, many of us have dealt with loss in our lives. Spiritfarer, released on the Nintendo Switch just three weeks ago, is a game that explores loss and death in a new way. This heavily anticipated indie game took fans by surprise when it released the same day the final reveal trailer was shown at Indie World, a showcase of indie games planned for the Nintendo Switch.
The heartwarming game lets the player control Stella, the newly appointed spirit farer to the afterlife. If you choose to play in multiplayer mode, you can have another person control Stella’s cat, Daffodil. The game centers around the concept of listening to the needs of those around you and dealing with loss and trauma. Your job as the spirit farer is to find spirits who are ready to go to the afterlife and accept them as passengers on your ship. As you sail across the seas to the Everdoor, the door to the afterlife, you can complete quests and build a tiny little community on your ship before finally saying goodbye.
The game is exceptional in every sense of the word. It includes beautiful hand drawn graphics, music that makes you feel centered and brilliant questlines. While I haven’t finished the game, reviews are reporting that the game takes around 40 hours to complete. The game includes other classic game mechanics, such as fishing, cooking and gardening.
One of my favorite things about this particular game is that there are hardly any consequences for doing something wrong. If you fall in the water, you’re not immediately met with giant letters that read “game over.” If you accidentally burn your food while cooking, it doesn’t start a fire. The worst thing you can do is forget to give one of your passengers a hug or give them a food they dislike, which will make them sad. There’s no consequences for the passengers being sad, though, and sometimes, even if you do everything they ask, they’re still sad. The game teaches an important lesson that sometimes people just need time and space and that it isn’t up to you to fix everything for everyone.
The quests allow you to get to know the spirits you are traveling with more personally. Each storyline is well fleshed out and you gain a personal perspective on each spirit you meet. The game makes clever choices in how it relates each of the spirits to Stella. Each spirit makes vague statements about knowing Stella in their past life; whether it was a childhood friend, an uncle, a grandparent, the game makes these personal connections to Stella and therefore to the player.
These personal connections to the player allow them to deal with real life struggles they may be dealing with. Maybe they’ve lost a childhood friend, an uncle or a grandparent. When it’s time to say goodbye to the spirits, the game plays a relaxing tune as you slowly row your boat through the Everdoor. You say one last goodbye, give one final hug and let them go. I’ll admit, games don’t often move me, but when I said goodbye to my first passenger I was in tears. The game does such an amazing job at establishing a personal connection to each character.
I had previously written about my anticipation for Spiritfarer all the way back in February and I can happily say that the game has surpassed my already high expectations. At that time, I didn’t know that I’d need this game as much as I would. Many people speak of therapeutic video games, and while I do choose some games to play while relaxing, I believe that Spiritfarer is truly a therapeutic video game in every sense of the word. I cannot speak highly enough of this game, but I can highly recommend that you check it out.
