Old Man's Journey Review

The eponymous Old Man stands at the top of his stairs-balcony, gazing out over the sea. Behind him, the sun has just begun to highlight the tips of nearby hills a golden orange: it is dawn. This opening scene sets the stage for the achingly beautiful art that permeates Old Man’s Journey. The old man receives a mysterious letter in the mail and sets off for a journey. The plot is about finding out who sent the letter and why the man is so obsessed over it. This makes him think of both the past and present in ways that are truly surprising. More impressive is how the entire story isn't told with words, but with striking imagery that struck a cord with me. The emotions that come from it feel real and raw.

In terms of gameplay, the game is once again simple, but also often very clever. You click or touch where you want the old man to go, and where the terrain does not allow you to progress further, you manipulate it so that the old man has a path that he can use to get to the other side. This means you can move and drag the hills that make up the vast majority of the game’s landscape, but there are rules when it comes to doing so. You cannot move the terrain that the old man is standing on, and often the terrain has limits that you cannot move them beyond.

Stone is immovable, and waterfalls drop you down a level of terrain, which can either help get you across, or means you have to think of a way to circumvent or get across the waterfall. This makes up the puzzle element of the game, figuring out how to get the old man from one side to the other so he can progress to the next landscape and environment.

It may only last for roughly ninety minutes, but like the best short stories, it provides you with a small window in to someone’s life, reveling in those snippets and telling its quiet tale. Honestly this game hit me hard in the feels and made me shed some tears. Kasanova Approved