Spiritfarer. 12 most interesting games about death and dying
Table of Contents
- Genre: platformer/economic strategy
- Is the main character dead: yes
- Are they death itself, or do they wield its power: yes
Charon is a soul carrier known from the Greek mythology. In exchange for the coin, which was customarily placed in the mouth of the deceased, he takes the souls accross Styx. In the game, Charon retires. He will be succeeded by Stella, a girl from a small island. The tasks include fulfilling the deceased's last wish, as well as providing the ship with everything necessary to be able to accommodate souls in need of transport.
Death is shown here very symbolically – people who look identical participate in a ceremony of transformation into a humanoid creature representing their personality. The final departure seems a liberation from social norms and bodily limitations.
However, that's not all the game says about death. Did you find it strange that Charon was retiring? Well, his task was to fulfill the last wish of Stella, who was also one of the dead souls. The girl wanted to build her own ship to transport them to the other side. By the way, she met relatives and found out that dying doesn't have to be the worst experience in... well, life.
A Mortician's Tale
A Mortician's Tale is an extremely short story of a funeral home employee. Although the entire game weights only a few dozen megabytes, it's actually pretty wholesome. We have an expressive protagonist, an aesthetic interior of the funeral home and, above all, a great many conversations about death. And a plot twist that's really hard to see coming.
Death and Taxes
Do you remember the cult Papers, Please, which was popular a few years ago? Death and Taxes works on a similar principle. It reminds us that only two things are inevitable (you can guess what these are). The game takes some distance from death, focusing on the bureaucracy that it entails.
