“Old Man’s Journey” is a short and sweet interactive story – Review

Old Man’s Journey is the type of experience that would have people questioning whether or not you could even classify it as a game. For me, all that matters is that it’s available on games platforms and you need to interact with it to progress.

It was developed and published by Broken Rules. It’s an interactive narrative game that tells the story, as you may have guessed, an old man’s journey.

This game doesn’t do much, but what it does do, it does very well.

The game’s visual style is like a story book coming to life. In fact, the whole thing looks like a painting and you could easily hang almost any screenshot on your wall, especially during the flashback scenes.

It’s clear that a lot of care was taken in making sure that the visual style matched the game’s content and Broken Rules’ execution in terms of the aesthetic and style are is almost perfect.

While this isn’t necessarily a criticism, don’t expect much from the gameplay as all you have to do is tell the old man where to go and drag the occasional object or background to help him on his way.

Personally, I found that solving puzzles by raising and lowering hills in order to create a path for the old man through forced perspective is both incredibly relaxing and enjoyable.

The one big criticism of the game is that it’s really short and you can be done with the game in between 90 minutes and 2 hours. Of course, if you love indie games like we do, you’ll know that this is quite common for smaller teams with smaller budgets.

Similarly, the game doesn’t really have any replay value. Once you’ve played it and experienced the story, there’s nothing really to go back for as the experience will be almost identical. For some, this might put them off the whole idea of buying Old Man’s Journey but I’m sure many of us have watched a film or a TV show more than once so there’s that…

Since this game is essentially a digital storybook, the story is quite important. This isn’t a particularly complex narrative but rather a less-is-more approach to storytelling that will make you feel warm inside rather than get your heart racing.

The Verdict

If you’re after a relaxing and heartfelt experience, buying this game and supporting the devs behind it is definitely worthwhile. Old Man’s Journey is a charming little narrative adventure and I enjoyed every minute with it, even if there weren’t that many of them.

It’s not a particularly expensive game and it’s simplicity, nuance, and presentation are worth far more than the asking price. Put the kettle on, pour yourself a cup of tea, and spend an hour relaxing.

Old Man’s Journey is available on Android, iOS, PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.