Seasons of Solitude is about mental balance survival game and step-by-step strategy about an exiled prehistoric tribesman who tries not to destroy his own habitat. This is the work of Estonian developers Ninjarithm Studio, based on Estonian myths.
There's a demo on Steam that I haven't spent much time with, but it looks interesting – so interesting that I wanted to give you a review before the weekend. Please ignore the quick edit of the trailer below: it serves as an overview of the mechanics but doesn't really capture the sleepy broodiness of the actual game.
The first thing that intrigues me is the hexagonal world, which constantly changes under your feet, both on its own and in response to your actions. Big shifts include changing seasons, with food becoming harder to come by during the darker months. Smaller ones include swarms of bees blocking access to fruit or larger animals eating your crop.
You can trap or chase away these animals, but if you do, you will stress the ecosystem, causing a ripple effect elsewhere. You'll need to build shelters and invent tools like stone shovels, but you'll also need to grow and repair tiles to keep the entire map viable. The basic controls are simple: you spend a limited number of points to move around and perform tile-specific actions, then hold F to end your turn and move on to the next year.
The second thing that intrigues me is that you are not alone. Or rather, you are left alone with your thoughts in a more literal sense. The Exile has Echo, a ghostly manifestation of his needs and urges, who acts as a second playable character – apparently this is a key point they borrowed from Estonian myth. You should keep your two avatars separate because if they are both in the same green border area, it increases your ecological footprint. But you also need to use them in tandem, because if they perform the same actions on separate tiles of the same type, you will receive bonuses. Perhaps there is a moral here.
I love the visuals, which combine sunny botanical tones with lots of clever little movements, like the wind in the branches or the water bubbling up as the tiles transform. I find the manual a little confusing regarding details like the difference between tiles and larger areas, but I don't feel like it's anything I can't figure out. There is no release date yet. Find the demo on Steam. If you dig, then you probably dig too People emerging.
