Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition

I like platformers, so take my opinion with that bias in mind. This is one of those games where the core idea gets handed to you in the first five minutes, but it takes the whole runtime for that idea to actually unfold through the characters you meet. Graphics are simple, hand-painted, nothing pushing any boundaries technically, but pleasant to look at for hours, which matters more than people give it credit for. Controls and mechanics are easy to pick up, nothing overloaded, nothing you need a tutorial video for. The characters carry the whole thing. Each one has their own personality, their own whims, their own way of needing to be looked after, and it's very human in a way that sneaks up on you. I'm fairly convinced this game exists to commemorate real people, and that context changes how you read everything that came before it. Where it gets tricky is turning that kind of sincere, quiet idea into something you're supposed to sit down and play for dozens of hours. So mechanically what you actually do is perform other people's will. Feed them, hug them, chase their moods, cook for them, depending on who they are and what they're going through that day. Cooking especially got deep, something like 90 recipes for the achievement and a few more on top for the in-game collector goal, so calling it almost a hundred isn't an exaggeration. Does the loop get repetitive? Yes, fairly fast honestly. I don't say that as a complaint though, just how it is, the game was never trying to be a mechanical marvel. Platforming itself felt normal. Not good, not bad, occasionally annoying but nothing that ruined anything. Ending was exactly what I expected from the beginning, and that's fine, some stories don't need a twist. This one just wants you to sit with it. Music does its job quietly in the background, never fights for attention, which honestly might be the best compliment. If you're after a few evenings with something beautiful, kind, and sincerely simple, this is exactly that.