the stillness of the Wind
Tranquility, solitude, and sadness
$4.99 From Fellow Traveller, fellowtraveller.games/games Made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Needs iOS 9.0 or later
Somewhere deep within The Stillness Of The Wind is a powerful story about solitude, sanctuary, and silence. A whole load of silence. It hangs over the life of the elderly Talma — the last left to tend the family farm after everyone else leaves for the blinking lights of the big city. They communicate with her through the letters, strange ramblings that feel otherwordly to the slow pace of Talma’s life.
Her life plays out like a stripped back Stardew Valley. You collect eggs, tend a vegetable plot, milk goats, make cheese, rustle up meals, and trade with
the vendor that emerges by your fence. Life is simple, small, and sometimes frustrating. The game doesn’t give you any guidance, goals, or any sense of urgency. Plus, the touchscreen controls are fudgy at best, with a single tap to move and interact with items and an awkward two–finger tap to drop them.
But none of that distracts from its profound look at the solitude of old age. It’s clumsiness is part of the confusion of getting old; the mundanity of a simple, repetitive life; the frustration of being slower and less capable of completing all your chores in a single day than someone half that of Talma’s age.
It’s not the best game of all time, but it might just have the most sincere, if bleak, take on old age we’ve seen in years. It’ll stick with you long after you draw the curtains on Talma’s uncomplicated life.
the bottoM liNe. Deliberately frustrating, and beautiful in equal measures.