Developer: Sokpop Collective
Publisher: Sokpop Collective
Year: 2021
Genre: Visual Novel
System: Windows

Aran’s Bike Trip is an interactive travelogue where you follow along on a bike trip through the Dutch countryside through a series of 360º photos. The game says it’s a short bike trip but it’s about someone riding their bike for two days, which doesn’t feel short to me. This is a game by Sokpop Collective, a small group that has been making a variety of short games for years, but this one is a pretty big stylistic departure from their other games. I think it would be a stretch to say the game has FMV since all you do is look at the panoramic photos of the Dutch countryside while looking at notes from the designer and listening to calming music, but it’s very nice. Sometimes a game can just be an excuse to look at photos of beautiful places in the world. It even inspired me to make a really tiny game about walking on a trail near my home.

Aran’s Bike Trip is available on Steam and Itch.io.

Developer: Wurm Fud
Publisher: Wurm Fud
Year: 2024
Genre: Visual Novel

Backwater Eulogy is a very short (10-15 minutes) visual novel and autobiographical exploration of loss and the experience of grieving someone you had a complicated relationship with. I think this type of VN is described as a Kinetic Novel, since it is linear and there are no choices, with the interactive elements just being the user clicking to transition from one page to the next. I don’t have a problem with that! A game can just be a very well written story featuring lots of great pixel art, which is what this is. The music is very minimalist and low key but works well for the story the game is telling and helped with the immersion.

It hit me really hard as someone who has experienced a sudden and very upsetting loss lately. I didn’t have a complicated relationship with my aunt but I still think about things I wish I could have done to change the outcome, even though there’s nothing I could have actually done. The story is also strongly influenced by the developer living in the midwestern US and that also resonated with me. Sorry about this one being such a bummer. Sometimes you play a short game about a depressing topic but it’s exactly what you needed to play at the moment.

Backwater Eulogy is available on Steam and Itch.io.