The souls aboard the boat are Stella’s deceased friends, family members, and former patients. Through vignettes narrated by Stella’s sister – who is represented as a cloud of pink butterflies – players learn that Stella works as a palliative care nurse, which explains why she is so adept at soothing souls during their final moments. Over several hours of gameplay, players come realise that Stella, too, is on her deathbed. What is more, the game’s creative director, Nicolas Guerin, spent time interviewing hospice patients and staff to better understand how different people experience their own mortality. This impression of depth, complexity, and fidelity is perhaps rooted in the fact the developers drew inspiration from memories of their own lost loved ones to create these characters. Some spirits are irritable, exasperating, and belligerent, some are frightened and confused, but they are all very human – despite being depicted as deer, frogs, snakes, hedgehogs, parrots, and other lovingly animated animals. Although these portraits are brief and abstract, they feel believable, and the bonds that players form with the spirits feel real. Through conversations with the souls – who are represented as various anthropomorphic animals – players get glimpses into the passengers’ former lives. In fact, listening might be the most important service that Stella provides. In addition to building houses for the souls, Stella can combine ingredients to cook them their favourite meals, hug them, and listen to their life stories.
The endless collecting and crafting that form the core gameplay loop could be seen as mundane and repetitive, but because these gestures are expressions of affection designed to cater to the specific needs of each soul, Spiritfarer seems to imply that it is ‘the little things’ – the thoughtful management of everyday minutiae – that really matters at the end of life. In this way, Spiritfarer makes the most of the interactivity of videogames: when death often leaves the dying person and those around them feeling impotent and helpless, Spiritfarer gives players gestures to perform that provide emotional and physical relief for the dying. The management mechanics feel meaningful because they are in service of preparing souls to journey to the Everdoor. Buildings and facilities – including a vegetable plot, a loom, an iron forge, a windmill, a dairy, and an orchard, amongst other things – have to be carefully stacked on top of each other until Stella’s ship looks something like a game of Tetris played with freight containers.
The soft, dreamy landscapes of ‘Spiritfarer’.Īs with many management games, players are encouraged to collect resources from these islands to craft items and amenities for their ship, including bespoke homes for the souls that they invite aboard. The islands that players can visit are rendered in a delicate, watercolour palette, and range from rural pastures to gritty cities, to tall mountains and deep mines. The ebb and flow of pastel-coloured oceans is punctuated by a steady cycle of quiet, magnificent sunrises and sunsets, painted in electric pinks and coppers, followed by purple, star-lit nights, during which players are encouraged to rest. Players spend most of the game navigating the serene waters of the liminal seascape between life and death. That isn’t to say that fear, regret, grief, and loneliness are excised from this game’s representation of death, but that these difficult experiences are cradled in acts of care and witnessed with love, understanding, and respect. On first meeting Stella, some in-game characters comment that her warmth and approachability are a welcome change from Charon’s sombre, intimidating demeanour, mirroring the fact that Spiritfarer is a welcome departure from cold, comfortless dirges on dying.
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