by Season: A Letter to the Future is the latest example of the diversity of experiences in this industry that inspires so much passion. We play video games for different reasons, trying to enrich ourselves with experiences of all kinds, but some are truly unexpected, no matter how simple their game concepts are.
To escape from the real world and the dramas that plague our lives, we invest time in video games for many reasons. Whether it’s to test our reflexes or concentration, test the intellect with clever puzzles, enjoy beautiful worlds that stimulate our imagination, get smiles with pure, uncompromising fun or discover new game concepts, we all have reasons us.
However, we live in an age where diversity is so great that we can afford to discover games with philosophical contours, whose messages and approaches to gameplay awaken a journey of introspection that ends up becoming the real richness of the experience. The stimuli we feel when playing an interactive experience are more than many and vary from person to person, but in a game like Season: A Letter to the Future it is an invitation to a journey of discovery, without any violence, wrapped in graphics of great artistic touch that his great arguments are made.
Although at first glance Season: A Letter to the Future looks like an abstract proposition, it is an adventure and exploration game in which you will travel through a valley on your bike. Since the valley will soon be flooded, there are less than 5 people left in the final days of the evacuation, and on a journey to live a unique experience, the protagonist Estelle will photograph, draw and describe the places she passes and the people she talks to with.
It’s such a simple idea, but with some ingenuity in the way it suggests an adventure of self-discovery, especially since we’re going to a place in its last days and the messages are always wrapped in hope. Season: A Letter to the Future tells us about seasons, time spaces characterized by certain events and the role of memories in shaping each person. The memories we carry with us and use to help us navigate our daily lives are powerful tools in shaping our identity. In Estelle’s case, she will create memories and capture new moments with your help.
Moreover, keeping in mind that this valley will soon be flooded and lost, Estelle enjoys the last moments of a season, turning conversations or scenes she experiences into memories to be remembered in the future. Not forgetting that the photos you take or Estelle’s drawings shape your journey, which in Season: A Letter to the Future can be personalized with what you put in your notebook.
This philosophical journey is fascinating for the brain and I bet it will leave you thinking about the role of memories in shaping the person, but there is a need to create a game capable of encouraging exploration and satisfying the desire for interactivity. Season: A Letter to the Future is a little lacking in this part, because despite the motorcycle the game area is not that big and the idea of filling a notebook with memories as a kind of “I’m currently trapped in the future I remember” it can quickly lose some of its spark.
As a non-violent, philosophically-focused exploration game, Season: A Letter to the Future shines, but in terms of engineering and execution, it feels like Scavengers should have done more. Capturing sounds or images and capturing those moments in your notebook results in a low-resonance game cycle and you quickly explore the valley. The soul of Season: A Letter to the Future is found in the dialogues with the people you meet.
Where Scavengers leaves little to be desired is on the technical side. Season: A Letter to the Future has a lot of performance issues, which combined with camera problems can lead to unexpected moments of frustration. When you want to get lost in these places and explore in such a way that you lose track of the real world, dealing with control and camera issues is not something you want. When you think of a game where you’re riding a bike for an adventure, you think of fluidity and frictionlessness. Often, picking up the bike is reminiscent of camera and control issues, hitting invisible walls, and feeling friction. Too bad the game doesn’t have much finesse.
Season: A Letter to the Future is the latest example of an indie adventure about exploration and introspection, capable of leaving you completely enamored with the approach to the themes explored here. It’s a shame that the technical part has quite a few problems and things like the camera and controls lack refinement. As food for the soul, Season: A Letter to the Future is an interesting diversion, a nice break from the mega-blockbusters that occupy most of our time, but as a game, they should have gone further to create a more memorable memory.
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