Old Man's Journey (2017)

"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.

A short puzzle game where you play an old man who goes on a journey after receiving a letter. The game is walking through each scene and solving puzzles to progress forward.

Story

The story is focused on the old man's life and the choices he made as he got older. It is a pretty simple story and you don't have control over the narrative.

Gameplay

I don't really have much to say about this game - the puzzles are mostly the same, which is moving aspects of the scenery around for the old man to get around. Each scene is very colorful and pretty, and the occasional character will show up to have a pretty minor interaction. This is a very short game with a nice soundtrack, good to play when you want something to relax to.

I bought this game as part of itch.io's massive Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality earlier this year, but I didn't prioritize it in my backlog until I won its gorgeous vinyl soundtrack by submitting the "Community Email of the Week" to my favorite gaming podcast. If I'm going to own the soundtrack, I should have at least played the game, right?

I'm really glad I did! Old Man's Journey is a relaxing point-and-click adventure with very light puzzle solving. The game's visuals are gorgeous, like concept art come to life. Its story is heart-wrenching but not unpleasantly so: Comparisons to Florence are apt, though I found Old Man's Journey offered a pinch more challenge. Its puzzles are also a tad more finicky, but not enough to prevent me from completing the game inside of 90 (very enjoyable) minutes.

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.

Beautiful idea, not perfectly represented.

The core concept of moving the landscape to progress is great, if atleast a hint or tutorial would be given when starting the game.

The protagonist backstory and reason why he is on the move is a bit too egoistic and the end feels not earned.

The game is very short but the train session feels excessively long and boring nonetheless.

Old man surviving waterfall drops is a bit of a stretch.

Get it on sale.

Rating: 8.5/10

Basically you come for the story, which is really emotional, specifically at the end. There's no dialogue, but it clearly states what's going on, and the environmental storytelling is wonderful. The more I think about it, the more I'm impressed by how much you got to know this old man in such a short period of time.

The gameplay consists of moving undeniably pretty environments (seriously, the game is gorgeous) around in order to progress, so it's nothing challenging but it's mildly fun. There is one part with a train that goes on way too long, which wouldn't have been worth mentioning in a longer game, but since this is really short it does have more of an impact. Still not a huge deal, ultimately, but it did drag. Outside of that it's got good pacing and doesn't get boring.

And the music is great.