An Old Man’s Adventure: A Review of Old Man’s Journey
Old Man’s Journey is a puzzle adventure game based around helping an old man make his way back to his family after receiving a letter in the mail. The art style is beautiful, combining hand drawn scenes with frame by frame animation. It’s a story about rediscovering a life that you’ve left behind and the journey of memories that get you back to those you loved. The game has won several awards since 2016, drawing reviews that speak about the gorgeous art style and game experience.
I picked up Old Man’s Journey when it was on sale a while ago on the Nintendo Switch eShop. The story looked cute and I’m always interested in checking out titles from smaller studios. Unlike some other games that I’ve purchased, I didn’t look into this game before I bought it. This time, I’m glad it worked out!
Your goal in Old Man’s Journey is to help the titular old man make his way from his house to an unknown destination. When the game starts, he’s overlooking the ocean, alone. A mail person rides up on a bicycle and hands him a letter. Upon reading it the Old Man walks inside, grabs a backpack and a walking stick, and begins his travels. Over the course of the next hour and a half to two hours, you and the Old Man traverse a variety of landscapes. He walks through towns, across hills, spends some time with sheep, and discovers old ruins. At every location, something triggers a memory of the life he’s left behind and you experience the story through this little hand drawn flashbacks.
The game-play is fairly simple but really fun to navigate. It’s a point and click adventure, you telling the Old Man where he should take his steps forward. But you also get to manipulate the land where he walks. There are places that are seemingly inaccessible, but once the Old Man takes a step off of a particular hill, you realize that you can make the hill taller or shorter so that you can access this next step. This mechanic gets slightly more intensive as the game progresses, but never makes you feel overwhelmed. Playing Old Man’s Journey is like settling down during a rainy day, snuggling up in a blanket, and reading one of your favorite books. You know that there will be sad parts and happy parts, and each moment brings you closer to finding out if the ending will be a happy one or not.
While there is no dialogue in Old Man’s Journey, the player gets a full view of the story thanks to the beautifully drawn flashbacks. You learn of why the Old Man left his old life and see him react to his memories as he seems to realize that he made the wrong decision all those years ago. His journey back to his family is one where he has to reckon with the hurt that he caused them by leaving and hoping that they will still want to connect after all these years.
The soundtrack that accompanies the game is fun and bouncy most of the time. But there are also moments where it’s quieter and helps you understand the mood they are trying to communicate. I found it on Spotify and have loved being able to relive some of the moments of the game just by listening to the soundtrack.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the story here, it’s a short enough title that I would encourage you to pick it up and experience it for yourself. I commend the story that they managed to tell without dialogue or any text at all. This is a game where I can see myself returning to the simple puzzles again when I’m not sure what I want to play. Seeing the Old Man interact with his surroundings and watching the life he had before was a comforting experience. I would recommend this to people who need a break from intensive games and want a cute story with fun mechanics. I know that I’ve needed games like this more and more in this season of life.
