How We Know We’re Alive

Homeward bound.

In this affecting adventure game, you play as a woman returning to her home town in Sweden, a year after the death of her childhood friend. The place hasn’t changed, and it’s with bitterness rather than nostalgia that she wanders the streets, chatting to the locals as she tries to understand what happened.

The mystery is dangled in your face before being deconstructed at the close of the game. While it has the atmosphere of a Twin

mystery – as you explore a quiet, rural town impacted by a shocking event – it’s a subtler story than I was expecting, offering no neat resolution to your friend’s sudden death. The ending is devastating, and without relying on violence. A few carefully chosen words can twist the knife just as well as an actual weapon.

There’s a duality to small town life that How We Know captures nicely. These might seem beautiful towns that many would want to live in, but they can feel suffocating when you’re growing up.

TOM SYKES

Explores small town duality in an understated and thoughtful manner.