![]() But in Spiritfarer, it’s the action of traveling to islands to collect resources, then harvesting them into something usable, that is the core. It’s not entirely unlike how you’d manage an island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, slowly accumulating the materials needed to tend to your creation. The management elements of the game, while repetitive and straightforward, are made essential because they are acts of care - the relief Stella can provide to the dead as they move toward the Everdoor, the portal to the afterlife. Resources collected throughout the world are brought back to the ship and processed through these additions to the boat, whether that’s turning sugar and flour into a cake, or flattening glass into sheets. This is where the “cozy management” of “a cozy management game about dying” comes in. These additions, which include orchards and a massive crusher for grinding things to dust, stack precariously on top of one another, a slow game of Tetris, as shapes get more complex and harder to fit in the constrained space of the ship. The ship gets larger and more complex with each passenger that comes aboard, whether a garden to grow vegetables for a vegetarian spirit has been added, or the kitchen is upgraded to create elaborate meals for picky passengers. Her large, but initially simple, vessel is her way of doing so. Some are not, but each has something they need - something Stella must provide. ![]() Most of the characters on the ship, picked up throughout the game’s watercolor world, are Stella’s friends and family. She travels between islands in the Spiritfarer world, meeting spirits that are stuck and need help in moving on. The game begins as Charon retires, with Stella just beginning in the role. If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Alongside a beautiful soundtrack, the ability to fish, and the means to play around with the various facilities on the ship, it is easy to get lost in Spiritfarer for hours on end.īecause Spiritfarer may be a game about death, but it is very much a game about life as well.Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games, movies, TV shows, comics, tabletop books, and entertainment experiences. There is love woven into each character and twist in the plot, where players can take their time in becoming fond of the spirits they encounter and exploring the world, without a time limit or pressure. The theme of death can be a sensitive and hard one for any medium to tackle, which makes it all the more remarkable that Spiritfarer does so gracefully. The list goes on, making this game not just one where the player learns about the spirits who become Stella’s passengers, but Stella as well. Another passenger is an outgoing frog, Atul, who was Stella’s uncle. The very first passenger, for instance, is a deer named Gwen, who used to be like an older sister to Stella. ![]() Stella works tirelessly to help them come to terms with situations that might have confused or troubled them greatly throughout their lives, fulfilling a role not only of a captain, but also of a therapist.Īs the game progresses, however, it becomes clear that more than a few of the passengers have had close connections to Stella, also a spirit, throughout her life. Stella (accompanied by her cat Daffodil) carries the spirits who choose to step onto her vessel from one destination to the next, gathering materials to build homes and other facilities on the desk to make them comfortable, until they are ready to leave for the Everdoor.Īll the spirit passengers, once human, appear on the ship as anthropomorphic animals (with the exception of Stanley, a child who takes the shape of a mushroom), each with their own musical theme, storyline to explore, and issues to overcome. Unlike the Charon of legend, who brings his passengers travel along the river Styx deep in the cavernous underworld, the realm in-between life and death for Spiritfarer consists of several islands with their own communities of spirits, upon vast, animated seas and under skies that shift gently from sunny mornings to starry nights. ![]() The main character, Stella, gets tasked by the ancient being Charon with assuming the role of the titular “Spiritfarer,” a shepherd of sorts for spirits caught in-between life and the unknown realm that exists beyond a stone archway known as the “Everdoor.” Spiritfarer is a sweet, organizational game of preparing loved ones to pass on and dealing with mortality. ![]()
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