Spiral

In life, we often approach people with cognitive decline by offering support—repeating ourselves, gently correcting mistakes, or quietly cleaning up errors made in forgetfulness. Spiral immerses you in the perspective of someone living through that very loss of self that Bernard feels—the confusion, the frustration, and even the heartache of fleeting clarity. The storytelling is truly poetic, mirroring cognitive degeneration in a way that is deeply emotional and immersive. For me, it was an emotional journey. The moments when Bernard struggles to hold onto his most cherished memories hit particularly hard, reminding me of the times I’ve watched my dad (who has Alzheimer's) try to grasp onto his own. By the end, I found myself in tears—not just because of the story, but because it captured a perspective we rarely see: that of the person living with dementia. In a world where we are so often observers, Spiral asks us to step inside—to feel the confusion, the heartbreak, and the fleeting beauty of memory. It’s an experience that will stay with me forever. Thank you Spiral team for such a beautiful game. It has moved me in ways I never thought could.

I have never been so moved by a video game before. Nothing comes close. Full disclosure - my mom has dementia, so everything about this game hit very close to home. But I think even if i didn't have this firsthand seat to this awful illness, I would still be moved the same way. The story is that compelling. I encourage everyone to buy this game. Spiral does an incredible job of showing the perspective of one suffering from dementia. Even if you haven't had personal experience with dementia, odds are you will at some point, and the team at Folklore Games found a good way to show the unraveling of one's mind and how it impacts others in a way that people of different ages and backgrounds can understand. Although the game made me cry a number of times (keep tissues handy), I'm so glad I found it. It is beautiful - the scenery and art, the story with realistic portrayals of relationships with family and friends, moving quotes I need to revisit and write down, and a great deal of empathy for those in cognitive decline. Maybe at a different time in my life I would have been more interested in the gaming elements such as small "quests" to find things/get them in the right place, turn-based role-playing, or flying a kite through obstacles. These elements are fine, but I was solely interested in the protagonist's story, so I would have just as happily pressed an arrow key to progress the story and skip all of that. But these elements were a creative way for the developers to attract a wide audience in a narrative that, by design, doesn't offer many choices. I'd also like to acknowledge that the team at Folklore Games was very responsive when I had technical issues and needed help. The game's story by itself shows that this was created by a caring group of people and that care was also demonstrated through their eagerness to get things working for me. I've played video games my whole life, since I was around 5 or so. I'm in my 40s now, and there's only one game I've played in all these years that has been so emotionally challenging and at the same time, comforting - Spiral.

I rarely, if ever, cry when watching any media. This game turned me into a total mess. Like Bernard, I remembered how my own loved ones struggled with dementia and felt the love and loss all over again. It also made me think about all the memories together with them, and how lucky I am to still have other people I care about in my life to keep those memories alive with. Besides the phenomenal story, the game is quite simple - you walk around, interact with things and experience Bernard's life from beginning to end. There are some mini-games that nicely break up the pace and even some RPG like encounters to boot! The game is not without its problems. I did experience a game breaking bug that was, fortunately, quickly fixed by the kind devs. There are general minor bugs where Bernard will periodically get stuck on objects, or certain objectives do not complete properly on a save, or some achievements do not pop when they are supposed to. But they really are minor nuisances compared to the story. I have played better *games*. I mean those that had super-complex and rewarding gameplay, fantastic open worlds, big world-building, etc. But this is among the most *meaningful* games I have ever experienced and that is, to paraphrase Bernard, more than enough. And more than enough to consider playing.

[b]Spiral[/b] is a charming walking simulator, with elements of puzzle games, RPGs, adventures, and other genres. It follows Bernard as he explores his memories through the limited viewpoint of his unravelling mind. It is a moving and enjoyable experience that portrays its difficult story and subject matter with tact and empathy. It is not without flaws but these are fairly minor and far from game-breaking. It will take between 6 and 10 hours to complete, depending on how thorough the player is, and provides a good amount of gameplay for its price tag. It offers stylised visuals, delightful characters, a heartfelt narrative, and a strong mix of relaxing and engaging gameplay with a lot of variety. Overall, it is a fairly casual experience that portrays an experience of memory loss in a sensitive but not overwhelming way. I enjoyed my time playing Spiral and would recommend it to anyone looking for something that will pull on the heartstrings a little. [b]WANT TO KNOW MORE?[/b] My full review of this game, where I go into detail about gameplay, narrative, and styling is available on [url=https://indie-hive.com/spiral/]Indie Hive[/url].

You know what's the best thing about getting old? Nothing.

[h2]我作为旁观者将心如刀绞，但如果我是亲历者呢？[/h2] 前段时间在Wholesome Games上发现本作，对其探讨阿尔兹海默症这个主题抱以厚望。本作也把“失忆”这种感受阐述得很准确。这不是一种走完一生“也无风雨也无晴”的平静与豁达，更不是因为哪一件事情记忆犹新的感动。 我所代入的这个老叟走入了一种混沌与模糊，慢慢地走入虚空的虚空。你记忆的逻辑开始分崩离析，在一段回忆中插入许许多多其他记忆片段的闪回。你还记得你似乎爱着一些人——但是他们都是谁？他们都长什么样？但是你感受不到、你没有感受——你不记得任何可以思考、可以感受的事物了。这是尚且年轻的我对“失忆”所窥到的一瞥。 现在再来说一些比较客观的。我是认为本作很适合做成个步行模拟的——毕竟，这种空虚的氛围是阐述“失忆”这种感觉的核心。解谜要素和少量的潜行关也没有打断我的体验（除了某一关找隐藏通道时略微卡关）。画风迷幻失真、带着一丝怅然若失，也很契合本作的主题。动画和建模比较粗糙，汉化也偶尔会有不准确和不完全的地方，不过这些方面我都可以接受。

[h1] Immersion at its finest: Spiral is a first of its kind! [/h1] [h2] 4.5/5 ★★★★✬ [/h2] [b] In short: [/b] Spiral will captivate your emotions and allow yourself the chance of experiencing another's life from many stages of age. It's about the person, not the illness. You'll find yourself quickly attaching to the main character, Bernard, and glued to seeing how he navigates life through it's many challenging seasons. It [i] literally [/i] made me cry, which I don't often do playing a game. I may feel emotional, but to have a stream of tears running down your face? This was the game that did it for me. Brilliant concept and well-executed and worth immersing into. [b] Specific, longer review: [/b] PROS: - Emotional, captivating story and game-play - Well-paced with puzzles to break from story - Beautiful 2D and 3D art scenery CONS: - Audio levels seem to differ in voice lines and SFX - Puzzle instructions seemed to only appear once and not again [b] Game-play: [/b] This is an exploration narrative game, so most of the game time is spent clicking on objects to learn more about the character and his life. There are puzzles sprinkled throughout, and I personally loved how each puzzle reflected the main character's stage of life. (Example: [spoiler] when you play as a child, you are able to crouch down and "sneak" for a variety of puzzles such as, exploration or hiding). [/spoiler] Most are not true puzzles, in the sense they do not involve a lot of strategic thinking; however, there is such variety and some do involve minimal to moderate thinking or challenge that they feel well-paced and enjoyable once they are encountered in the story. What I kept thinking during my game-play was how absolutely *creative* the concept was, surface-level and deep. At face-value, the idea is already creative: a game that takes you on the life journey of an individual who experiences a life-altering illness. And then in a visceral sense, how they show you stages of the character's life were extraordinarily unique. At one point during the character's teenage years, [spoiler] we play the equivalent to a Dungeon & Dragons type of game, but instead of it being from the POV of a board game, your character (and friends) BECOME the game with delightful game-play and puzzles throughout. [/spoiler] (This was one of my favorite parts and where the bulk of game-playing parts were)! I believe I am remembering correct that there were times when playing the mini-games or puzzles that I needed to read the instructions again for controls or how-to begin, but I don't remember being able to find them once they were read initially. Maybe they can, but I remember being lost a couple of times and needing the prompt but couldn't find it. [b] Music: [/b] I quite enjoyed the backing tracks for the game. I didn't find them to be lost or distract, but partnered well with the emotional story-line. The use of piano was the perfect, delicate choice to convey the pureness of heart that we feel throughout the game, but also in the marriage of the introduction and ending. It reminded me of the track in Disney's UP, "Married Life," because it hit all the right places of each scene. And at the same time, the other music choices were well-fitting for the areas they played, maybe not tracks I would want to listen to for as long as I had to while in certain scenes, such as the board game scenes. It's music was more rock/grunge and although fitting, I found myself wanting something a bit less stifling since we spent a significant amount of time there. The only other minor issue I found was that during the board game scenes, there were times where two different tracks would play simultaneously. You could hear the main Spiral tracks playing, while the board game music played too, which did distract from immersion at times. But this may be a minor fix as my play was a pre-release, and it did not hinder my overall enjoyment. [b] Story-line: [/b] What I feel to be the best part of Spiral's entirety is the story itself. Folklore Games truly accomplished their mission of wanting to display the person behind the illness and how it can affect every portion of their life and how they remember it. Learning about the main character was touching in the deepest sense. You wanted to know more, learn more. You wanted to jump through the screen and give a big hug and comfort the individual experiencing these emotions. I loved all the characters and their important role to our character's life; it was not something put-together. A very well-thought out story. [b] Voice acting: [/b] I quite enjoyed the voice-acting throughout the game. I thought Bernard's voice was absolutely exceptional. The lines where he forgets something and is trying hard to remember... so perfect! You can audibly hear the frustration. There were a few characters whose audio lines were a bit jarring in the sense that their voices were not what I expected, but it wasn't something that I found to be off-putting from my enjoyment. Really, my true suggestion from this area is only that the sound of the lines themselves seemed to vary. Some lines were a bit louder than others, so sometimes the flow of conversation seemed a bit like a wave of loudness and quietness in audio. [b] Animation/graphics: [/b] There were some gorgeous scenes in Spiral. I particularly found the 3D animations of the park and the Spiral staircase of memories to be not only outstandingly captivating, but also beautiful too. I don't believe I have ever played a game thus far with an animation style quite like this one, and I applaud them for their uniqueness in creating something individual and maintaining a cartoon, fun, colorful essence, while also showing the deterioration of the main character's mind as the game went on. I just loved how that was artfully put-together. The 2D art style was particularly beautiful as well, and the idea of blending both into a game for a stronger use of story-telling was well done. [h3] Is it worth it? [/h3] Yes. It is definitely worth experiencing and immersing. Well done, Folklore games! Watch my blind reaction here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b643UIMEnA&t=16s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVx5_uUM5-c&t=5004s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tbfVRD0kT8&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLibgQtF9A&t=2095s

Harika bir deneyimdi. Hikayeli oyunların çok azını bitirebilmişimdir. Bu oyunu mümkün olduğunca her şeyi öğrenmeye çalışarak tamamladım. En başında menülerde gezinirken birilerinin anısına yapıldığını öğrenmemin de büyük bir etkisi oldu. İyi dizayn edilmiş kurmaca hikayeleri de sevsem de hiçbiri, yaşanmış hikayelerin verdiği sonunu tahmin edebildiğim halde sonuna kadar hikayeyi takip etme arzusunu uyandırmıyor. Sonunu biliyordum, hepimiz biliriz. Fakat ne hissettiğini Bernard'ın ifadesiyle duymak istedim. Bu yüzden tamamladım. Hafızanızı etkileyecek bir hastalığınız olmasa bile yaşlandığınızda asla unutmam sandığınız şeyler karakterinizin inşasında yerini korurken anılarınızda olmayacaklar. Dönüp baktığınızda hayatınızın her on yıllık dilimi için muhtemelen 2-3 major anınız olacak. Birbiriniz için her zaman orada olacağınızı düşündüğünüz arkadaşlarınız olacak, hiçbir zaman tam anlamıyla kopmasanız da zamanla oradalarmış gibi de hissetmeyeceksiniz. Hayaller kurulacak ve bazılarının nasıl bir yere varmadığını göreceksiniz. Bir yere varan hayalleriniz için çabalarken yanınızda olan insanlar başardığınıza şahitlik etmek için belki de orada olamayacaklar. Anlattıklarımın birçoğunu biraz bekleyerek siz de deneyimleyebilirsiniz. Fakat başka birinin gözünden hızlı bir tur atmak isterseniz bu oyunu almanızı tavsiye ederim.

Je viens de terminer le jeu et je l'ai beaucoup aimé! Autant les graphiques que la musique et l'histoire au grand complet. Je le recommande grandement.

Perfect for those who love a story-rich game where you can either follow the main quest line or explore to find some hidden secrets to enrich the story :)