Originally released last year, Spiritfarer is hugely acclaimed title looking at death and saying goodbye by combining character driven and management simulation gameplay into one neat package. With the game recently having seen a physical release on PS4 and Switch, I'm jumping in to see exactly what makes this title so beloved to so many.

Starting out with a cutscene, you're introduced to the world and your role in it by the ferryman Charon. Soon to be departing, you are to be his replacement in fulfilling the last requests of spirits and eventually guiding them to the afterlife. The environmental design and music here are nothing short of magical. There's an inexplicably whimsical sadness to it all, stemming by in large from the small connection you make with Charon, soon to be severed by his passing. This short encounter encompasses the core gameplay cycle and sets you up with a fundamental understanding of what is to come. You meet a character, you hear their story, and you help them prepare to move on before inevitably guiding them to the end. It's all here in this first scene, and it pulls you in in a way I haven't experienced in a long time. Leaving the scene as you paddle your small boat away, the game truly begins.

  

Frankly, it's more of a journey than it is a game. Not long after the meeting with Charon, you come across your first spirit and acquire a boat of your very own. The first spirit, Gwen, has a number of small requests to get you used to how the game works, these generally being on of visiting a place or giving her an item. This is where the bulk of the gameplay lies, and I understand if that sounds mundane. To some extent, it is. It all ties together though. To give an item, you may need to refine materials. To refine materials, you may need a building. To get a building, you may need other resources. To get other resources, you may need to forage on an island. And while you're traveling to that island, you may want to use the time to fish for food, plant crops, or, well, refine materials at the buildings you do have. There's a simple intricacy to it all that I have to admire; one thing leads to another incredibly well.

With the setting of Spiritfarer being a large ocean with islands dotted around it, you have an issue similar to The Wind Waker presenting itself: you spend most of your time sailing from one place to the next. This ends up being different to Zelda however in how this is an integral part of the game. Instead of traveling being no more than a means to an end, it acts almost as a timer to get things done while you're waiting to arrive at a destination to do something else. As a management sim, it does an incredibly good job of keeping you busy, while providing you with adequate freedom for your playthrough to feel unique. If I had to pick a flaw here, it would be in the very nature of the game. Though your ship may grow larger as you progress and upgrade it, allowing you to place more buildings on its grid-based deck, things still feel slow, even later into the game. I feel like factory games like Satisfactory and Factorio may have ruined other management sims for me. I've come to expect a degree of scaling and automation that likely wouldn't have fit here. Such things would take away from the personal nature of growing, of refining, of cooking, and then of giving. Were it automated, you'd lose a certain extent of attachment and achievement, detracting from the interpersonal relations the game relies on to motivate you. It's a flaw for me with how I like to play games, but it's not something I'd change.

At the centre of the game is its characters though. As you play, every conversation carries a sense of value in it if only for your knowledge that your time with each character is finite. Understanding the point of your journey with each of them is for it to come to an end, you see even the most basic of conversation as something more. You have a build up from meeting them and growing attached to them, to eventually saying goodbye. And this is further elevated by the incredible backdrops and music. I don't usually talk about graphics and music since they're just kind of there. A lot of games I could play muted, a lot of games I could see a different art style working just as well as the one used. Not with Spiritfarer. Everything fits together like an intricate jigsaw, to the point that I couldn't imagine the game missing any part of what's offered. The physical version of the game that's recently released is one I really think is worthwhile. Coming with what is a fairly standard soundtrack and art book, you have two of the game's best components to experience again beyond the game, and I think that's wonderful.

   

I'm not going to say Spiritfarer is for everybody. I don't think that's the case at all. It's an incredibly personal journey about death, accompanied by fundamentally solid management simulation gameplay. It's slow, but not void of content. If you're the type of person who wants to explore, who wants to see all there is to see, and say all there is to say, you'll have a marvellous time with the game. It's one that'll be in my memory for a good while to come.