This is not the story of the One, the One encompasses too much, crushing everything, and making it the same. No, this is the story of the Many, who are blessed with difference and rich in strangeness.

This is the story... of a family.

My first time playing through this game, this opening line really struck out to me. On my very recent replay, it's really come to stuck with me even more.

Watching a few trailers or screenshots out-of-context may make this game look particularly daunting or too off-puting, but the game itself is rather simple. You play a small family of quaint lil' guys called Trebhum, who have the ability to mutate their bodies depending on what they suck up with their little trunks. Almost everything in this world is bigger than you. Almost every living creature in this, odd, exotic planet either wants to have you and your family for breakfast, or just as easily will squash you for looking at it funny. All the while, as you spend your time running away from the titular, Eternal Cylinder.

The world of the Trebhum is unique, varied, strange. The Cylinder is all-encompassing. All-crushing. It is ceaseless, tireless. It flattens every and any thing in its path; crushing it all into a bleak and uniform wasteland. It stretches from horizon to horizon, always on your heels, seemingly impossible to outrun forever.. The goal is simple. Your family must try and survive in this world too big for them, as you try to find a way to escape the torment of the Eternal Cylinder. To say it can be quite stressful is, putting it mildly.

On my first playthrough, I noticed that there was option to name an individual Trebhum every time one was added to your family. I never really thought much of it, until on my second playthrough as I was streaming the first the first half of it to my friends that I had decided to start naming them after said friends.

One by one, they were added to the family. One by one, hour after hour, the family grew and grew.. Mutations were acquired, strategies were developed, individuals were assigned specific roles. I grew attached to them- Letting my friends choose what mutations they wanted on their Trebhums, or deliberately sticking some with silly ones for the meme of it. Ecstatic whenever they triumphed, sad whenever they came to die.. Quite hopeful, each new that was renamed after their predecessors.

In a time in our own world where the richness and varied strangeness of our own lives is being threatened and stamped out by those that would like to have us all be the same whilst crushing us underfoot, the Eternal Cylinder has wormed its way into a special place in my heart and soul. Through community and shared struggles and action, an everyday family, even a found one, can accomplish the impossible. The Many is a thing to be loved and celebrated. For as similar as we all are, it is our differences that make us, us. That give our lives flavor, and meaning.

I don't want to spoil more than what I have shared briefly here. I don't believe this game will to be for everyone, but I do sincerely wish that everyone at some point give this game a try. It is a wonderful, beautiful game where even when the impossible is coming down to crush you.. It's those closest to you that lift you up. That give you meaning. That, together, you can worth living and fighting for.

Being quiet is safer sure but.. What's a life, without a little song?