SEASON A Letter to the Future hello sadness review
Games

SEASON: A Letter to the Future – hello, sadness. review

played on personal computer

Morning rays play softly on the sidewalk. Chirping cicada. The music of the wind plays softly. Water flows into the fountain. A light breeze blows paper cups and napkins across the square, which they couldn’t remove after yesterday’s holiday. Ordinary morning. But… probably the last.

journey my bicycle

How many variants of the apocalypse have we already seen just among musical mechanisms! However, usually we either try to stop it in some way – both with the help of violence and in a completely peaceful way, as in minute of the islands, for example. Or we go into business shortly after the disaster – most of the time we experience suffering and fight again, but sometimes we still enjoy the world that has changed after the disaster (mutazione). SEASON: A Letter to the Future also flirts with this topic, but in a completely different way – the world seems to be ending. But first of all, we can’t do anything about it. Secondly, what kind of ending it will be is completely incomprehensible. Third, even that end will come, one cannot be certain. The season seems to be drawing to a close. But what does that mean?

    SEASON: A Letter to the Future consists of such landscapes

SEASON: A Letter to the Future consists of such landscapes

Asking this question as well, Estelle sets off. In her bag is a journal, a pencil for sketching, an instant camera, a voice recorder. And on the neck – a pendant containing memories of the house, where, most likely, Estelle will not appear again. return. Her goal is to get to the museum with her diary and record everything she sees, hears and feels along the way. Preserving the memories of the past season for posterity.

And try to understand in general what the season is. And what comes after that?..

    One of the few

One of the few “riddles” – in this case you need to pick up specific images and sounds, and not randomly

SEASON: A Letter to the Future immediately sets in a reflective mood and does not change tone until the end: leisurely but attentive approach to the moment, fixation of seemingly unnecessary details, immersion in the world at the same time cozy and filled with traces of past tragedies and anticipation of the future shock hangs in the air.

Estelle never left her village – and we go on a journey with her, with wide eyes, getting to know a very similar and at the same time unobtrusive fantasy world to ours. His story, story the change of seasons written in large strokes – we gradually recognize it again: in some letters, advertisements, graffiti that were found along the way. The world of SEASON is largely deserted, but at key moments we either meet a few characters who add an extra dimension to the story, or we ride the waves of our memory and “communicate” with the residents of our home village.

    Estelle comments on her actions, is always

Estelle comments on her actions, is always “present” and does not hide behind the character of the player

Nevertheless, SEASON deliberately avoids almost any information “on the forehead”, skilfully evading the presentation of events in chronological order. Everything we collect in our journal passes through Estelle’s and the player’s perception filter.

In fact, SEASON can be completed simply by riding a bike from start to finish, photographing everything around you, picking up random noises and not trying to figure out what’s happening. It will happen without our participation. We are not the center of the action here and not even an active participant. Just a chronicler. There are literally three key points in SEASON that you should definitely visit and talk to the right characters there. Otherwise, you are free to fill in the diary as you wish. Or not to fill them out at all and skimp on the role you have taken on. Unexpected freedom for a fully linear adventure. And indeed, this is almost the main idea of ​​SEASON – this is a story that can be freely interpreted. While of course you really want to explore every nook and cranny here and learn as much as possible about the game world – it’s literally addictive – here the process is much more important than the result. It doesn’t matter what you end up with in your journal, what matters is what emotions you experience as you go.

melancholy

First and foremost SEASON: A Letter to the Future I was fascinated by her appearance two years ago. The image of the character pedaling through the desert landscapes of wondrous beauty suggested either a “trip to Yokohama for shopping” or the works of Makoto Shinkai. And the game doesn’t change the first impression – the cartoonishness suits Season very well. However, there’s actually no direct reference to the anime: although some characters appear to be drawn from Miyazaki’s cartoons, and even if it’s just Shinkaevsky heaven, the rest of the game actually has a style of its own, direct roots of which are hard to find.

    Here you can pet animals - that's the trend now.  Only instead of seals - goats and cows

Here you can pet animals – that’s the trend now. Only instead of seals – goats and cows

At the same time, you have to be prepared that SEASON will not offer a great variety of landscapes: yes, Italy, Scotland, Japan and China inspired the artists immediately, but the world here is very compact. In fact, in the end, the game isn’t even a full-fledged street adventure. Instead of a continuous ride from start to finish, we actually ride most of the time through a single valley that is closed but can be explored in any order.

Non-linearity, despite the scope of the open world, is very conditional here. Yes, as I said above, we’re free to fill out the journal (the most important and only quest in the game) with anything and everything, right down to vignettes, decorations, and Estelle’s notes about what we saw – becoming two identical journals never do it be two players. We can also choose different answers in the dialogues and make some decisions – but apparently this will not affect the ending. Yes, I repeat, this isn’t about the what, it’s about the how. By choosing this or that in the moment, you are not building the story formally, but within yourself.

    ... but your own and not in a mortgage!

… but your own and not in a mortgage!

Games are a young but very lively art form that is looking for “live”. Forms of interaction with the player, this or that degree of interactivity, ways of presenting the story. SEASON: A Letter to the Future, at first glance, brings nothing new to this quest: a conventionally beautiful melancholic travel game in which you have to explore the surroundings and talk to other characters. Camera in game? There are all games above taking photos! A voice recorder that you can use to record an owl’s cry, for example? And they saw it! Nothing new regarding playing style SEASON cannot demonstrate.

But it explores untrodden paths when it comes to storytelling – slightly fuzzy, poetic and open to interpretation, like the films of Cai Ming Lian or Bi Gang (which, among others, inspired the authors of the game), – a departure from the specific into the realm of feelings without frontal metaphors, but at the same time preserving intelligibility; As such, the story of SEASON actually tells nothing. It is at the same time quite ordinary in shape and original in presentation.

***

SEASON: A Letter to the Future completely devoid of not only violence, but also conflict – we can only face the consequences of the war that took place last season. This is an experience of contemplation. Contemplation steeped in melancholy. The current season closes the gates behind it, the future blurs – so it remains to look at the past. And the past is always nostalgia, losses, unfulfilled desires, mistakes, missed opportunities. Albeit mixed with beautiful moments of happiness.

At the same time, SEASON, with its minor key, manages to evade all tragedy and sentimentality. This is primarily a work on memory – a topic that has recently become incredibly popular in games (Hindsight, A Memoir Blue, “Remember …”, the same recently released Pentiment). About how we live on after death in things or memories of loved ones. How things can speak. About how important it is to keep your own little story – as a contact to yourself real. Otherwise, you may not stand the test of time. And the changing of the seasons.

Advantages:

  • incredibly beautiful landscapes;
  • an interesting, unusual and detailed world;
  • melancholic and original story.

Disadvantages:

  • Traveling is mostly about exploring a small open world.
  • minor technical problems.

graphic

Landscapes, light, sky – Season looks really chic and in its small scale tries to please with a variety of beauties. The characters are also cheerfully written, but completely without animation. They don’t even open their mouths.

sound

First of all, the sound is distinguished by its dynamics – each, even a small zone, sounds in its own way, with bright accents (for which we have a voice recorder). At the same time, music performs an exclusively background function – this is a very pleasant background, but it is not remembered at all and does not attract attention.

single player game

travel game A bike simulator with minimal interspersed dialogue and the ability to take photos of the world around it.

collective game

Not provided.

Estimated travel time

6-8 hours.

general impression

Pretty standard in form but not common for the game, the story is essentially emotional and distant, deep and fuzzy, melancholic and soul-saving at the same time.

Rating: 9.0/10

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Video:

Related Links:

  • Video: Season: a Letter to the Future meditative bike adventure gameplay
  • Pre-apocalyptic Adventure Season: A Letter to the Future postponed to 2023

About the author

Alan Foster

Alan Foster covers computers and games and all the news in the gaming industry.

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