Camille and Laura

Camille and Laura is about performative parenting. Not the kind you do for your own benefit, the kind where you feel like you pulled off the parenting equivalent of a kick flip. No, the performative parenting in Camille and Laura is the kind we rarely own up to do, the kind of parenting we do to let the little people we’re in charge of believe we know what we’re doing. No matter how into debt that frozen pizza puts you, you serve it up as if it’s a gourmet meal; no matter how little sleep you got last night, there’ll always be breakfast on the table; and no matter how long your day was, there’s always a bedtime story. This is the part of Camille and Laura I feel in my bones: that deep-down fear that all of this other stuff will rob my child of the childhood they deserve. The dirty truth—one that comes out in the game’s standout moment when Laura goes to therapy the first time—is that we all have off days. We all have days where the pressures of it all compress us too much and all that’s left is a ragged, hollow husk of a person. But there’s something else hidden in Camille and Laura: no matter how bad it gets, we perform the routine of being a parent, because yes, it’s hard, but, like many things in life, that quiet moment of living in your imagination with a person completely enraptured by you helps, if only for a moment. I saw so much of myself in Camille and Laura and, whether you’re a parent or not, I think you will too. It’s a lovingly crafted game that explores the rarely discussed aspects of parenthood and modern life. So much of this game feels true, from the little idiosyncrasies of breakfast optimization, the nervousness of grocery shopping on a tight budget, and the secondhand shame of getting the wrong colored pencils. Good media can transport you to somewhere new, but the best media lets you live a new perspective. And Camille and Laura is the best kind of media.

A short, heartwarming game that tells the story of a single mother doing her best to support her daughter during her first week of school. I like to imagine that the story is told through the eyes of a child, with all of the playful and endearing interpretations of what adult life is like. Really impressed by the sound design, something that is often overlooked in indie games; the little jingle to accompany every "I love you" made its absence so much more heart wrenching. Bravo.

Camille and Laura is by no means a 10/10 game, but if you are a parent or grew up in a single-parent home, I think it is a must-play. The emotional tale of a single mother trying to get through her daughter's first week of school is heartfelt and deeply relatable to any parent. The art style purposefully looks childish to evoke the feeling that the story is being told through the eyes of Camille, the five-year-old girl, and it works very well with the game’s stripped-down point-and-click mechanics. I think it is a great way to spend an evening, as it only takes about two hours to complete. However, if you aren’t a parent, it may not be for you as I do not think the emotional highs of the story will hit in the same way.

Un jeu narratif très charmant. Les visuels enfantins fonctionnent très bien avec l'histoire. J'ai ressenti beaucoup de sympathie pour les personnages. Il peut être difficile de traiter de sujets comme la dépression dans un jeu vidéo, mais j'ai trouvé ça très réussi et pas du tout triste ou ennuyeux.

A beautiful look at being a parent, being overwhelmed, and the desperate feeling of trying to navigate the world, yourself, while providing the best life for your child.

An original and touching slice of life story, told in a way only an interactive experience allows. Some of the point and click "puzzles" can have wonky results if you combine certain things, but the game is interesting and thought provoking in it's honest representation of a single mother and her child. We need more games that dare to portray the mundane. There is so much breadth and depth to the human experience, and this game scratches at something few games have the courage to try.

The game is charming and the art is adorable!