As the end of the working day approaches in Britain, and the last grains of sand trickle through the neck of the enormous obsidian hourglass that our overlord Graham keeps on his desk, let me say goodbye to you by writing a book called Some Goodbyes We Have Lived.
Created by Safe Flight Games, it’s an hour-long collection of 11 minigames, including miniature visual novels, platformers, and standalone character creators, all presented in a charming desktop-like interface. As the title suggests, each one involves saying goodbye to something or someone—an senior home, your college life, a friend you’re no longer on good terms with. “You’ll see the protagonist hold onto the sadness and depth of goodbyes throughout these minigames, and you’ll feel the unique complexity, heartache, or beauty of each one,” he explains. Steam pageperhaps a little intrusive.
While they’re clearly playing for emotes, the style of the games is quite mischievous. There’s one where you’re frantically waving your mouse cursor as a train pulls away, and another that looks a bit like Earthbound, where you’re a kid who raises hell during a moving house.
Both creators of Safe Flight are graduates of the New York University Game Center. I’ve played a lot of engaging smaller experimental games from NYU Game Center graduates. I also love the concept of a set of endings – a kind of anti-demo disc, if you will. It reminds me a bit of John Thyer’s micro-RPGs Aspects.
Still, I’m not sure I want to actually experience Some Goodbyes We Made — or at least it’s not a game I’d jump into without thinking twice. The game’s creators note that throughout the game, “you can also revisit the goodbyes from your own life,” which is a nice thought, but I said goodbye to a few things I personally don’t want to relive.
Still, I’m glad this game exists, and with a little mental preparation, I’m intrigued to see how they’ve implemented this concept in different genres. I wouldn’t mind splicing together compilations of ending sequences from other games, putting the final mission of Mass Effect 2 next to the Death Egg Zone from Sonic 2, and challenging people who haven’t played either game to make sense of it all. What would you put in yours?
Some Goodbyes We Made will be released on October 25. And with that, dear reader, I won’t say “goodbye,” but: see you tomorrow!
