Backwater Eulogy

死水悼词。层层叠叠的阅读体验就像一枚石子在暑期午后慵懒池塘里激起的一道道哀而不伤的情绪涟漪。打破了宁静却又闪烁着金色的光辉，细腻的人总是这样痛苦而灿烂。 推荐在于像素和文笔都美到了极致，不推荐在于有那么点华而不实。（情感是真的，只是没什么实物描写，偏意识流，[strike]而且短[/strike]）

Didn't expect much at the very start. However, when I saw that the first person narration turns to a second person narration, I immediately fell in love. Then again, the more I read, the more I realise that an I is speaking to a You, that the story is so well-written at times it feels like poetry and that the protagonist is trying to deal with loss, sadness, disease, memories and personal gentleness and cruelness. The narration and music blend in perfectly. A short immersive experience as though you are reading a chapter of a character by English Modernist writers. PROS: - Immersive experience into a fraction of the life of a character; - First and second person narration; - Music blends well with the narration; - Themes of loss, sadness, disease, memories, personal gentleness and cruelness; - Easy to learn mechanics; - Save and Load options; - Steam overlay. NEUTER: - No Steam cards or achievements. CONS: - From what I understand from the "Help" section is that this game has choices, but I haven't come across not a single one. Maybe I got to keep on playing... - That's it. In conclusion, if you're looking for an immersive short experience in the prairies, have a go.

I'm not crying, you're crying.

I found this game completely by accident. I'm glad I did.

This is a very short kinetic novel (a form of visual novel that does not have branching) about the death of a family member, and his life in the rural US Midwest. I bought it because I want to see more games set in the rural Midwest :) and because I saw the developer post some screenshots of the art on Bluesky and I liked those a lot. I thought that it would be heavy on the art and there would be only a bit of text, but it is actually poignantly written and I think a very fitting eulogy. It's not one-sided at all, the text and the art form a whole. I am a fast reader and finished in 6 minutes, but I went back to look at the beginning again, and also to look a bit more at the art - there are also animations, which I did not expect. I would definitely recommend it if you want to read a beautiful short piece. As a Midwesterner, I also felt the prairie was very lovingly rendered, I really got what I was looking for, and more. I played on the Deck docked to my TV. Sometimes RenPy games do not do so well with this setup (I'm not sure why, a weird scaling or fullscreening issue?), but here I had no problems. If you want to read more short stories with beautiful visuals on here, I also recommend Banyu Lintar Angin as an interesting parallel, about family, but more upbeat - but with likewise warmly portrayed landscapes of a very different (or maybe not so different) region, rural Indonesia. ___ Source of the game: Bought with my own money (at a 50% off sale if memory serves right)

"It is a very strange feeling, to grieve for someone twice."

beautifully written eulogy. rest in peace.