There Swings a Skull: Grim Tidings

An absolutely beautiful and bittersweet game. Some of the choices given to you change the game and some don't, much like real life. The art is very much my jam and is exactly what you'd expect from the photos. The world-building is perfectly tight and expands well as the story moves forward. Everyone feels fleshed out in a way you want to claw at the corners to learn more about them, but you still get enough information to understand the story and characters. [spoiler]Anne-Marie is a good representation of this, specifically the two characters different reactions to her grave, but also how she hangs over them like a shadow.[/spoiler] Everything is fleshed out well and the difference between the two narrators is excellent. The music fits the tone of each scene perfectly. The building dread spoke closely to me and maybe hit a little too close to home in a positive way. It's great. There's several different endings as well as a (very good) comedy ending that will help lighten the mood if you're crying like I did. After two hours I completed three endings, and it looks like there's at least two I missed. It's not going to be a long playthrough for some people, but it's definitely one I'll be thinking about for a while and will revisit in the future.

funny, sad, unsettling, heartwarming

An interesting little game about being in love and trying to just carry on with things at the end of the world. Stop me if you've heard this one: the world is burning and yet every day Anatoly gets up and goes to work like it's nothing, while his husband Pyotr tries to keep the house and continue his painting career. But things are so bad that people are actually just immolating in the street; and so you watch these two as they go about what they know will be their final days. A very cool style, very expressive pixel art cut with at times disgusting images that fill up the screen. Maybe the world doesn't need to burn; maybe it's the people who caused that to happen. Really glad the Drat ending was in there to provide a little humor for a game that's rather dour and serious otherwise

A sincere and well-written love story draped in a dense and amorphous dread. The Sisyphean narrative really hammers home the hopelessness of the entire situation, but the small handful of little moments between Anatoli and Pyotr are so heartfelt and kind that I found myself forgetting about the eldritch sun beast looking to immolate everyone and everything. Messed around and got a few endings, still need to do the secret one but regardless, I HIGHLY recommend this game if you’ve got 1.5-2 hours to spare.

YESYESYESYES perfect game about eco-fascism, with queer protagonists and very grim setting. the whole experience is very unsettling and dystopian in the best way possible, whilst also being a very nice and simple 2D game with a very engaging story. on one hand i wish there were more endings, but at the same time i feel that would be a disservice to the whole point of the game. There is no way to fix a world this broken, especially not for one person with no power. quite depressing, but i suppose that's the point. really enjoyed this, and will definitely be going back later.

Being a middle aged gay man has never been better! Or, worse, actually!

Good Stuff, Conor Walsh and Quinn K deliver once again.

Lovely mood piece. Strong prose with a purgatorial feeling. The dual perspectives are richly composed, too. Recommended.

Extraordinarily well-done game. Horrific, hopeful, suffocating, and delightful in equal measure. Punched me in the gut repeatedly in a way that had me saying, "Yeah, I know what that's like...unfortunately..." which is, in my opinion, the mark of excellent societal horror.

Somehow seems more potent, playing this in 2025: the world's aflame, yet it seems like we can do very little things to change it, so we just continue to monotonously live each and every day of our lives, try to cherish our loved ones while suffocating in dread... Can't help but feel like "something is in the air" — hence too hot and dense to suck in, yet to escape into another world by oneself seems just as improbable... there is always more than just one eye watching, from above or below. I love the writing style, subtle yet effective: the changing inscriptions on tombstones, the building lights that are on and off, the ominous eye(s) staring out from the apartment building door... And our lovely couple. It's hard not to empathize with these characters. The music and graphics too enhance this melancholic feeling. Unsettling yet not terrifying, being used to tragedy yet still unbearable to stare them right into the eye — or eyes. Truly a wonderful game!