![]() ![]() ![]() Estelle’s journey takes her to a run-down shipping depot and a rainy field dotted with windmills, all filled with compelling material for your journal. After a leisurely stroll to capture all I could of the gorgeous little village, I was eager to see what else the world had to offer.įor the first few hours, I was captivated. Decorations from a party last night still hang in a tree, and signs of the village’s lived-in past are everywhere. The courtyard where you’re asked to gather your first recordings is staged perfectly. It’s only the first month of 2023, and Season already seemed like the kind of game I’d be convincing people to play for the rest of the year. It’s peaceful, and Estelle chimes in with observations about the subjects you’re recording, building the world slowly and subtly. You can take all the time you want to compose shots and arrange them in a journal. Outside, you’re introduced to Season’s simple camera and audio recorder and asked to capture your hometown before leaving forever. Once you’ve made your choices, Estelle leaves with an emotional goodbye. Estelle looks through her home and describes evocative memories and sensations tied to significant objects stashed throughout. Doing so means Estelle’s mother has to give up five memories of her own - one for each sense. Your character Estelle and her mother are making a pendant to protect Estelle’s mind on the journey ahead. Reviewed on PS5 with a code provided by the publisher.Season opens just before you leave home to collect memories of the world as the season ends, an ominous event that’s more gestured at than explained. Season is a calming, pensive adventure that's as beautiful as it is quaint. Although it doesn't always live up to its narrative, there's something quite special about how its narrative and adventure unfolds. That hasn't stopped me from finding Season quite the memorable experience, mostly for its peaceful and idyllic exploration and unexpected darkness. Some elements the developer assures me should be interactable are also just plain not working, so what should have been a 6-12 hour experience has taken me far upwards of that as I struggle to solve the core mystery with the game serving me technical curveballs. I've had to undergo a few complete restarts to make maps load correctly, or to force the photos I've plastered across my journal to not show the same image. Unfortunately, my experience with Season has been plagued by a number of (what I hope to be) pre-release bugs. For the most part, that's fine, but there are moments where blindly cycling around the valley could have been tampered by better notetaking - particularly when some of the cues are a little more obtuse. I also wish there was a touch more to a quest log or a better option for notetaking, especially as the game really doesn't tell you anything about what it expects from you. A goat's bray cuts through the otherwise eaceful countryside scene, some windchimes play a particularly melodious tune, a monkey surprises you in a shrine… suddenly you're leaning in to capture any sound in case it's helpful to building out your documentation. It also makes you appreciate the little snatches of audio you find. It's stylized, with an almost hand-drawn charm that makes you want to capture everything you see that's interesting or beautiful - and there's a lot of that here. It helps, of course, that Season is beautiful. If you're anything like me, you'll end up with an archive of far too many polaroids as you snap away at flowers, unusual architecture, or a tree that's catching the light in just the right way. The snap of the shutter and whirr of the photo emerging just becomes part of the game's glorious soundscape. Taking photographs is easy and filled with the retro charm of using a polaroid-esque camera. Riding the bike is always a joy, with you having to use L2 and R2 to pedal when you first set off or try to go up a hill, and then being able to enjoy the freefall when you've reached your stride. As you journey out from your hometown into the unknown, you're armed with your bike, along with a camera and an audio recorder that you'll use to document what you see and learn. Season is effectively a road trip game apart from your roads are quiet country paths that snake through stunning vistas and decaying urban landscapes, and your trip is as much about time as it is about distance. ![]()
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