About a year after I got married, I watched the movie Blue Valentine. It stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It tells both the story of how their relationship came together and the day their marriage falls apart. At the end of the movie, Ryan Gosling throws his wedding ring into the woods as a gesture of his anger with his soon to be ex wife. Before he drives away, he searches the woods for his wedding ring- trying to take back this action. Trying to regain the thing he threw away so stupidly. And even though I had only been married for a short period of time, I cried. I had never cried at a film before. But I wept pretty bitterly in that moment.

Now I cry a lot during movies. I have 4 kids so all this stuff can get me emotional. Sometimes I'll tear up while watching a movie and be like "that movie sucked". I cried reading a tweet today. I'm VERY lame.

Old Man's Journey reminded me a lot of Blue Valentine. I mean in a lot of ways they couldn't be more different (if memory serves me correct, Blue Valentine got an NC-17 rating while Old Man's Journey could be played by my babbling baby son without any need for concern), but they also are telling a similar story. One that will pull the heartstrings of every spouse or parent.

What you lose, you lose. There often isn't a going back. It is just gone. Old Man's Journey is a beautiful reminder to value what you have. To treat it with the priority and care that it deserves.

If you can only play one narrative driven, mobile-y clicking, not really puzzles/kinda just interaction game- make it Florence. But if you want to play another one, go with Old Man's Journey.

"How much, I see as I look back, I read into it all, reading my own dream text and not looking at the reality... Yes of course I was in love with my own youth... Who is one's first love?"

Old Man's Journey is a short, narrative driven puzzle game, where player manipulates the landscape to aid the main character in his eponymous journey. It is a tale mostly about regret, but one that's presented lightly (that's not to say it isn't emotionally moving). It also touches on the subject of passion and its impact on family life. Being a mountaineering guide in my free time with a few alpine trips under my belt, while also having a father who has been a successful alpinist this theme really had hit home in my case. It is amazing how well Broken Rules managed to tell the story here, without a single word being written or said. A praiseworthy attempt.

Puzzles here are more on the easy side, but it's never really about the puzzles and this becomes pretty obvious right at the start. It is about... a journey and about getting to know the titular Old Man at crucial moments of his life while he ponders on the choices that he made. The main game mechanic can get finnicky sometimes, especially when you're trying to clear a way for your protagonist - I must have ended up pulling a wrong piece of landscape unintentionally quite a few times - however it is a minor annoyance and in the grand scheme of things doesn't intrude on the narrative.

Even if the way the ending is going to play out can be pretty obvious to some, very early on in the game, it's a story still worth experiencing, because it evokes plenty of emotions throughout. For me, a person being now married for 7 months with a woman I've been together for 9 years & a dad to a wonderful 1-year old daughter, it delivered a powerful punch, stronger than I could have expected. My eyes watered multiple times by the time the ending came. Absolutely loved the two hours I spent with this title, it played great on the Steam Deck too - seems like this was actually a perfect experience (which isn't a surprise really, given that Old Man's Journey was originally designed for mobile devices). Well recommended.