When I was a child, my mother picked up a little mystery game called Nancy Drew: Treasure in a Royal Tower. That single purchase would launch a lifelong love for the wonderful mystery series and would open the door for a wider interest in mystery games, horror, travel, and history.

From halcyon nights spent beside friends, clustered around a small screen screaming gleefully at the occasional jump scare, to seeing the beautiful rendering of Nancy's story in the newest game, each time I boot up the title screen feels a lot like coming home. It's why I was ecstatic to have the chance and honor of being able to interview the creative team continuing Nancy Drew's celebrated legacy.

HeR Interactive was founded in 1995 and has produced Nancy Drew mystery games since the first release of Secrets Can Kill in 1997. The teenage detective has a storied history outside of the games, but it's in the games where many fans found a foothold. Her influence remains significant in pop culture, and Nancy's stalwart curiosity and actualization in these games continue to enchant fans. The most recent entry, Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Seven Keys was released earlier this year.

The HeR Interactive Team members interviewed are as follows:

• Suzy O’Hara, Chief Creative and Creative Producer - Games
• Cacie Desautel, Production and Project Manager
• Penny Milliken, CEO
• Jared Nieuwenhuis, Communications & Marketing Consultant

SUPERJUMP

Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys is your first release since 2019's Midnight in Salem. How did you approach this game's creation with the longer hiatus between? 

Suzy O’Hara

When it comes to development, there is no “hiatus” for us. Our team is continuously developing, refining, and creating for the next game. The transition from inception to development and then production is seamless and ongoing. Our approach to the game’s creation early on includes the game narrative design and technical engineers working closely with the creative team running on parallel development tracks. 

For instance, after completing production on our first game on the new Unity engine, Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem (MID), we immediately began looking at what we wanted to implement in the next game. We especially considered the important fan feedback, brand elements, and the technology updates needed to improve systems. We are keeping in mind not only game 34 but also future games so we can make each new game even better while keeping those essential pillars of a Nancy Drew game at the forefront. We took time to create the new dual navigation system, develop new features, update the character production and animations, and explore ways to enhance the game's visual fidelity, making technical adjustments to the game engine along the way, all to be ready for game 34 production. 

The creative team I work on has multiple stories in development as an ongoing focus. We like to have many mysteries in varying stages of development, from concept to pre-production, ready. This gives us the flexibility to select a mystery that is relevant to the timing of the release and also a location that fans have often indicated they would like to see Nancy go to for her next adventure. We consider many elements that take time to develop properly, so we select the mystery that fits perfectly with our 34 other games for the next case. Identifying story opportunities and development is an exciting part of my everyday life and what I love most about storytelling entertainment. 

"As we work to adapt the Nancy Drew games for all audiences, we’re constantly looking for ways to reimagine old mechanics and design aspects in the 3D world of our new games."

Cacie Desautel
PRODUCTION & PROJECT MANAGER

SUPERJUMP

Mystery of the Seven Keys is a beautiful game! I love the loading screen facts, the painterly style, and the cleaner UI. I also love that you have a first-person and a Classic setting – it's how I'll always remember playing! How did you decide what to keep or/and remix in this game? 

Cacie Desautel

As we work to adapt the Nancy Drew games for all audiences, we’re constantly looking for ways to reimagine old mechanics and design aspects in the 3D world of our new games. In the future, we will continue looking for these opportunities and improving on what we have already adapted, such as the classic mode. The dual navigation system is a great example of what we are doing to appeal to both our longtime fans and new fans alike!

SUPERJUMP

Obviously, times have changed since the original game came out back in 1998, but it seems the heart is ever-present. How do you stay "true" to the Drew identity?

Penny Milliken 

We start from a place where we understand the significance the Nancy Drew universe has played in the lives of many of our players. Nancy Drew is an icon for a reason – because much of our fan base has found themselves in her, found strength in her, and escaped with her. Countless fans and celebrities traveling different paths in life cite Nancy as a central figure in their childhood. So, it's essential for us to maintain those core characteristics that have made Nancy Drew popular for over 90 years, such as her intelligence, courage, independence, and curiosity.  These key characteristics have made Nancy Drew an enduring and beloved figure, and we work tirelessly to ensure that those characteristics are seen in our games. 

SUPERJUMP

This is the franchise's first venture to Prague. How did you research the location and the stories surrounding the mystery? I've always enjoyed the cultural snapshots of the games, from ranches to ryokans, that give a little background on where we are. What is that process for story conceptualization – do you choose locale or mystery first, or do the two sort of naturally intersect?

Suzy O’Hara

It is a pleasure to know that you are a longtime fan of the Nancy Drew game series. As you know, we are one of the longest-running series games,ever-evolving and our players, as Nancy Drew, have solved over 34 cases! 

As noted earlier, development for Nancy Drew’s next case is a continuous process. With the rich legacy of the Nancy Drew franchise, we have a wealth of ideas and concepts to draw from. Nancy Drew, our iconic teen detective, is true to her roots but is also ever-evolving as the famed female detective. The settings, stories, characters, and crimes in our games are adaptations from the Nancy Drew book series or are original ideas and game worlds like Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys (KEY). 

For the mystery, we like to consider current interests and unique crimes Nancy hasn’t solved yet. It could be a news story, a moment in history, or travel that sparks the idea. For KEY, the locale and mystery naturally intersected. The story is rooted in history with a modern cyber spin. It is a mystery plot that could only happen in Prague, and it was inspired by a family trip there.

While in Vienna working on MID, I visited Prague and was captivated by the Bohemian Crown Jewels and their protection by the seven keys and the key bearers. The haunted corridors and tales of royals and alchemists added intrigue. I was so excited that I called Penny, our CEO, and shared several ideas for a mystery set in Prague. Having visited Prague before, and then returning to consider it as a game story, she was equally inspired. The development of the game story, researching the crime, establishing the characters, so each is a suspect, puzzles, and experiences and how they fit into the game world were all part of the first phase of establishing the game story.

Turning the story into an immersive game experience makes it all come alive by working closely with the game design team. We had to ensure the narrative offered rich opportunities for player engagement through interactions, control, and Nancy’s signature snooping. Each story element needed to be translated into puzzles and challenges that felt organic to the history of Prague and the plot. Also designing an experience where players don’t just do things on Nancy's to-do list, but they have to think and reason like Nancy and become her. For me, working hand in hand with the design team, and our brand team to bring the iconic legacy game elements into the project is the heart of what transforms a story idea into an unforgettable game. We are so glad you enjoyed playing it! 

"Nancy’s character, with her unique blend of intelligence, courage, and independence, resonates across generations."

Penny Milliken
CEO

SUPERJUMP

The Nancy Drew games have a thriving fanbase, and I know many of us rediscovered a love of the games during the pandemic. From bake-offs to Q&As, how do you keep up with the social aspect of the studio? And do ideas or clamor from fans ever influence the next book-based mystery or location?

Jared Nieuwenhuis

I am so proud of the creativity the social media team shows daily. They understand the brand and our audience so well, which translates into great social media content and engagement. They collaborate seamlessly, and our team is constantly sharing ideas, being inspired by our passionate fans and their survey responses, and contributing to our social media goals. Additionally, they are disciplined and organized across different departments, which leads to a holistic communications approach. This enhances our overall success, aligns with the expectations of our fans, and grows the overall awareness of our award-winning games across multiple platforms. They also take a lot of inspiration from current trends and events. From International Video Game Day to the Olympics, we’re here to celebrate and cheer on our amazing fans while tying it back to Nancy Drew games and HeR Interactive. 

SUPERJUMP

One of the things I always loved most about HeR Interactive is its centering on women's stories. Nancy was one of the heroines I resonated most with as a kid, even though I had no shortage of superheroes to look up to. Why do you think she's remained such a role model to people of all ages?

Penny Milliken

Nancy Drew’s enduring relevance as a role model can probably be attributed to several factors:

1. Timeless Appeal: Nancy’s character, with her unique blend of intelligence, courage, and independence, resonates across generations. Her relatability makes her a timeless figure in detective fiction or video games.
2. Adaptability: Nancy has evolved over the years, from her original depiction in the 1930s to modern adaptations. This evolution is a testament to her ability to adapt to changing cultural norms and interests, ensuring her continued relevance.
3. Diverse Media: Nancy Drew has made her mark in books, movies, TV shows, and video games. This multi-platform presence not only keeps her relevant but also makes her accessible to a wide audience.
4. Fan Community: We are constantly amazed by our passionate fan base who continue to celebrate Nancy Drew. Be it fan conventions, online forums, or social media, the fans are directly responsible for Nancy’s ongoing popularity.

SUPERJUMP

I know development takes a lot of different hands to move the boat, and one thing I've often overlooked is the music. The soundtrack in Mystery of the Seven Keys is as enchanting and atmospheric as the past titles. How do you craft such a smooth soundtrack for the games?

Suzy O’Hara

The music in KEY was inspired by the contrast between old-world ancient Prague with the beautiful settings, and the modern world of high-tech crimes in the story. 

Our composer, Ryan Ricks, is phenomenal, starting with the narrative and setting to craft a cohesive musical experience. We provide him with detailed scenarios and examples, for feeling and tone, and he transforms them magically into layered, dynamic pieces. These tracks often allow for a variety of combinations with different instruments, enhancing the atmosphere of each scene. Cutscenes, which are critical for story progression and emotional impact, benefit greatly from his unique compositions.

We're thrilled you enjoyed how we blended the sounds of old-world Prague, local street performers, marionettes, our cozy coffee cafe, and the whimsical elements of Old Town. The cello at the museum and the cathedral’s music pay homage to Czechia’s classic music, while medieval legends and mysterious happenings bring a haunting vibe and suspense. The Aparat computer store and certain puzzles transport players to the more high-tech elements. The music is one of the game's highlights, and we hope players will enjoy each piece.

"Nancy operates in a world of reality and crimes, but to me, the stories woven in the case that tie in history, fiction, and some fantasy into the adventure add to the mystery that Nancy has to solve."

Suzy O'Hara
CHIEF CREATIVE & CREATIVE PRODUCER - GAMES

SUPERJUMP

Video game designs have changed a lot from the early aughts, but people still seem to like click-and-point-style adventures. Cozy games are fairly popular too. Do you have any games or game genres that you've drawn inspiration from? What about books or movies or music? 

Suzy O’Hara

Inspiration from games I search out is usually very strong in story and character development. I simply love narrative mystery adventure games.  

I play many fun casual games that are always inspiring for our activities and mini-games. 

Those fun Nancy experiences give us the chance to develop new mechanics often played in more casual games and puzzle sim types. I like games like Monopoly, Portal 1 and 2, The Room, Countryle, and Papers Please. 

Also, games rich in investigative clue-gathering and deduction. These games to me are among the best for their unique storytelling, investigative gameplay, and often innovative mechanics. Some examples that are top on my list are Return of the Obra Dinn, the Uncharted series, and Sherlock Holmes.

As far as books for inspiration, all Nancy Drew mystery books, of course!! 

Also, fantasy books offer rich worlds and compelling stories, drawing on a variety of myths, legends, and folklore to create engaging fantasy elements in Nancy’s adventures. 

Nancy operates in a world of reality and crimes, but to me, the stories woven in the case that tie in history, fiction, and some fantasy into the adventure add to the mystery that Nancy has to solve. 

For movie inspiration for storytelling and mysteries, here is my list:

• History! Drama and the classics all offer real situations told in universally appealing ways.
• Spy and espionage
• Classic mysteries well told: Agatha Christie's Orient Express, Glass Onion: Knives Out, and Sherlock Holmes films and series. 

For Music inspiration: Music that inspired ideas for KEY drew from the classical to the mysterious and lo-fi moods, as we used in the Nancy Drew Café holiday mix that has a cozy café vibe with music from past games and as well as new tracks from KEY.  

SUPERJUMP

Of course, I have to ask, what is one of the games in the franchise you consider a favorite?

Our favorite Nancy Drew games, not including Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys:

Penny Milliken - Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy

Suzy O’Hara – Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor 

Cacie Desautel – Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy

Jared Nieuwenhuis – Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall

I want to sincerely thank the HeR Interactive team for taking the time to interview with us! And, of course, thanks to Nancy – who taught me to be brave, kind, and always curious.

Mystery fans old and new alike should give Mystery of the Seven Keys a spin, or any of her 34(!) other mysteries, including those mentioned as favorites by the team above. As a longtime Drew fan, my opinion may be biased, but the longevity of the brand speaks for itself – these games have always been wonderfully realized point-and-click adventures. They're charming, creative, and most of all fun; so, there's bound to be a mystery (or many) right for you.

You can keep up with all things Nancy Drew via blog, YouTube, and Facebook, and other social media channels.

Billing itself as a modern gothic tale, Frank and Drake is certainly that – but it's also a kind, winding tale of personal connections. Clocking in at a little over four and a half hours (at least, my first playthrough took around that long, spaced over a few days), developer Appnormals Team has managed to deliver a heartful rumination on the flaws that keep us from meeting others halfway, and the small moments of kindness to ourselves and those around us that brighten our lives.

I've lived in a city for nearly all my adult life. I know the backway graffiti, the quiet streets, and flickering lights in wide alleys. It's a vibe the game captures well, reminding me of nights when I stood by an alley close to home, looking at the neon-lit lights of a bar and hearing the raucous music inside as if it were a paean. I know how deep our connections go here, even if they feel as if they're surface level. People look out for each other. Neighbors take in mail, check on those they know live alone, keep an eye on the familiar paces we always see someone taking and worry when, one day, they're no longer there.

Frank and Drake illustrates this cohesive awareness of others in loving detail.

Between hours

The story revolves around two characters: the eponymous Frank and Drake. Frank functions in the daylight and has issues with memory, Drake is (literally) allergic to the sun and can only go out at night. They communicate, once Drake moves in, entirely through sticky notes left on the fridge. Through these, the relationship grows, moving from curious to caring as Frank and Drake begin to take on the burden of each other's troubles. This eventually unites them as they work towards the same goal. Something is afoot in Oriole City, and they both mean to find out what.

I know the backway graffiti, the quiet streets, and flickering lights in wide alleys. It's a vibe the game captures well, reminding me of nights when I stood by an alley close to home, looking at the neon-lit lights of a bar and hearing the raucous music inside as if it were a paean.

We follow this branching mystery by taking turns playing through each of their points of view, with Drake at night and Frank during the day. It's through their "ships passing in the night" style of cohabitation that we learn what ails each of them, physically and mentally, and get slowly closer to finding out why.

The art style of the game utilizes rotoscoping, which traces animation over real movements, and these feel enlivened by the animations, given greater personality by the simple color and lighting. The movement is heavy, even, in something as simple as the contemplative lifting of a hand to draw a sticky note from the fridge after a restless sleep. These moments of movement are indicated by pressing the arrow keys in certain scenes, and they feel nearly meditative in their slowness. Take a moment, the game seems to say, relax with this.

The music moves between nascent lo-fi to soft jazz, echoing the lulling feeling of the game itself. Its decidedly reflective and moody, but that fits the nature of the game's mystery taking some darker turns. I played Frank and Drake mostly at night, which felt appropriate for me, glancing out occasionally over my own city skyline. It's a game with a comforting melody, a mystery to solve that's edgy but never brutal.

There's a lot to infer from Frank and Drake as well. It doesn't really hold your hand at all. I sometimes sleepwalk a bit through games, pressing buttons to progress without really putting thought into it, but this game requires more focus. Not by being loud and explosive and direct, but in the silent ways it asks you to put the pieces together. You move through its numerous puzzles without a real roadmap, but they're simple enough that a little bit of thoughtfulness can go a long way into solving what might otherwise be a frustrating thing when rushed. There was a small puzzle I had to do as Drake to make constellations, and I later realized these shapes corresponded with a pamphlet that I had on hand as a reference. I didn't know it then, but these tiny moments of realization tie directly into the narrative, even if they aren't always obvious.

At first, I thought this was a detriment (there were a few parts where I was left scratching at my head, wondering what to do next) but I also realized this was, in a way, user error: I was asking the game to tell me everything, when I should have been paying attention to what it was trying to say.

Longing for more

Frank spends his time chasing his own ghosts. There is a despondency to this – as if he's aware he may never catch them. Drake, meanwhile, moves with reluctance through his troubles, haunted by actual ghosts but lamenting the fact that they're even there. These are characters who have been through a lot, but still manage to exude kindness and a readiness to help, even if it's just to escape their own turmoil. I leveled up their relationship fairly quickly, moving them to intimates by the 3rd day out of a 6-day period, mostly because it felt the natural inclination of the game.

You're able to choose your direction, picking from two options on most days, sometimes more, and these actions affect the story's ending. I only got to one ending, but I was intrigued enough that I'll go back for more. I'm sure there's a load more to explore, but even so, I enjoyed the sparser aspects of the game's narrative. Some of the told stories or insinuated elements remain more elusive, but the art of it all – and the way it conveys these feelings through art – make those unknowns feel purposeful and vibrant, in that we might be able to put our own conclusions together.

I was asking the game to tell me everything, when I should have been paying attention to what it was trying to say.

The development team did a wonderful job with Frank and Drake's story, from the lovingly crafted soundtrack to the intimacy of its art style. Each playthrough offers a different set of options, the branching networks told daily by a small slip of paper. And there is a lot of little communicators in the game, between post-its, memories, hauntings, and journals, this gives us a deeper consideration of these characters, even given the brevity of the gameplay. Frank and Drake provides us glimpses into other lives, reads like a love letter to urbanity, and reminds us that good people are all around us.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice by developer Ninja Theory caught people by surprise way back in 2017. Widely acclaimed as a touching story of grief and regarded as a pillar of mental health representation, it won the Game Awards prize for Best Performance, Audio Design, and Games for Impact. Seven years later, the long-awaited sequel was quietly released to the public. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was first announced in 2019, but due to the pandemic and presumably other reasons, it took longer than anybody expected. So, is it worth the wait?

Lacking in mechanical innovation and gameplay diversity, Senua's Saga still maintains a spectacular story and bone-chilling audio design comparable to its predecessor, enough to give anybody goosebumps. Thanks to its use of Unreal Engine 5, the game flaunts breathtaking visuals and atmosphere, with well-realized Icelandic landscapes and hybrid Norse-Celtic attire. A relatively short romp compared to contemporary AAA titles, it follows the trend of indie games, carrying heavy stories of emotional depth in six hours or under.

The Sacrifice

Set in the late 8th century, Senua's story starts with her struggle dealing with inherited psychosis that came from her mother, the mental illness that caused people around her to see her as a curse and blight to the land. She hears voices inside her head, ones that confirm her self-doubt, yet also at her darkest moments, become her only friends. Because of this, her mother died at the hands of Senua's own father, burning her on a stake as a sacrifice for the gods.

This act traumatized her so much that she had to repress the memory and imagine her mother's death as suicide. Other than her mother, the only one who saw her as she was and wholly accepted her was her lover, and the first game depicted her grief over his death as well. For that, she blamed herself, just as her father taught her. Being used to alienation, she accepted that she was to blame for every death and misfortune that befell everyone she ever loved. People around her saw her as a curse, and that narrative burrowed into her heart, becoming what she truly believed.

The game ended with Senua fighting through hell for her lover's soul, the singular thing keeping her going, without realizing that it was herself who held it in place. In a metaphysical battle against the hordes of hell and its goddess, the voices in her head pushed her to the realization that she had to let go, that the alternative was an endless unwinnable battle, and that the real hell was holding on. So she listened. By moving on, she accepted all the deaths in her past, her part in them, but also her innocence. Her odyssey made her welcome her supposed curse and introduced her to a new way of seeing.

"Never forget what it is like to see the world as a child, Senua: where every autumn leaf is a work of art; every rolling cloud, a moving picture; every day a new story. We too emerge from this magic, like a wave from the ocean, only to return back to the sea. Do not mourn the waves, the leaves and the clouds. Because even in darkness the wonder and beauty of the world never leaves. It's always there, just waiting to be seen again."

The morning after

The sequel asks the question of what happens after acceptance, and the responsibility that comes with it. Senua has made peace with the loss of her lover and the psychosis she carries. But peace does not mean forgetting, and she carries the memories of her lost ones still. Now, her challenge and struggle lie in what she has to do with just the memories that remain, and what to make of peace. Without the clear direction and purpose of anger, without the emotional drive of grief, she must find her own way, and carve a path that makes sense for her. Senua has sacrificed her innocence by remembering the truth about her mother's death and her father's part in it, yet she has also reclaimed her innocence by not blaming herself for her lover's death. Now, she must make both losses worth it.

So she went to the source, the first blade that took her love away, the reason blood was shed. The second game starts with her pretending to be a slave and getting taken away by the Northmen who once came into her village and gutted her lover. While the predecessor showed Senua's personal journey of self-acceptance, the sequel shows Senua's journey in attempting to understand her worst enemy and despite their bad blood, empathize. Maybe she could make them see what she saw, and her journey need not benefit herself only. By healing herself, she could start to heal others who are similarly wounded by the world they all share.

In the course of the story, she shows mercy to the slaver who killed so many, and in the process learns about three giants that plague the land. These giants are the reason her village was raided, slaves were taken, and her lover butchered, all done as sacrifices for them. But as her psychosis is not the bane that many saw it to be, these giants are also not as they first seem. They are not as typically imposing as their name implies. The giants of Senua don't even stand up, instead, they crawl like newborns in pain.

The way Senua defeats them is also atypical. She first has to learn their names. Once known, she can begin to relate with them and figure out their pain. Senua sees through the giants' imposing size and booming cries, to the little hurt soul cradled inside. Through her eyes, they can accept their mistakes and injustices. Having them be seen and understood by an outsider, they do not have to be alone ever again. Through Senua's acceptance of them, the giants can claim peace. Like ghosts tethered to reality by guilt and grief, the presence of someone living to remember their life cuts them loose.

However, not everyone is willing to open themselves up to new perspectives. The final giant couldn't see it, he didn't want to. It is revealed at the end that the last most powerful giant is in fact the slaver's father, the tyrant who sacrifices slaves from other lands proclaiming it was to keep his people safe. As it turns out, it was all a ploy to keep himself in power and keep his people obedient. Once Senua comes to challenge his rule and show people another way of living, one of compassion, the tyrant rejects her.

She sees her own father in this tyrant, the one who also weaponized lies and fear to diminish others. Coming out of the first game, Senua could now see past the lies of narcissistic men. She saw the motive, the original sin that took everything from her, how cruelty can come from fear, and evil from control. All of it is based on a lie that is only beneficial to its teller. Even in his absence, her father still gives voice to her doubts. Once gaining cult-like followers by soothsaying, her father had used his believers to gain control and murder Senua's mother. The true giant is the lie fed to us that we believe over our own truth, the one we must learn the name of to dispel it of its power.

Only after Senua redeems the slaver by making him oppose his father, that she frees herself of the fear of becoming her own father. By seeing another inspired by her and resisting their doomed destinies, she is inspired in return, instilled with the hope that she does not have to experience the same fate as her mother or father.

While the first game is more internal, dealing with Senua and her past and the voices in her head, the second game focuses a lot more on other people. She hears their voices, how they contradict or concur with her inner voices, and how their perceptions of Senua repair her broken self-image, an image cracked from trauma and grief haphazardly corrected by a shaking hand, needing outside perspectives to keep it from being fixed crooked. Other people's belief in Senua breaks her disbelief in herself. They are the tether to her reality. They make her realize that the burden of acceptance doesn't have to be carried alone, and that her grief and psychosis mean something good when turned into a helping hand.

Living with a different way of seeing

Both Sacrifice and Saga play with what's real and what's not, juggling the inner reality of Senua's mind with the objective outer world. It makes us question if the giants are real or just metaphors. But maybe they are real to her, and that's all that matters. Senua's Saga is partly about perspective, and by seeing the world through Senua's eyes, it does not matter much if a lie looks like a giant; all that matters is the problem takes shape in whatever way people see it. Maybe through seeing things in a new light, new solutions are born; maybe tyrants do not have to exist to replace each other' maybe none of us are our mothers or fathers.

There's a part in the game where Senua disarms herself, leaving herself vulnerable, to arm her future self. She passes on her trusted blade, her only defense, to a voice in need, and that voice is her own. By answering the call to help others, she is helping herself. She learns to take the leap of faith in helping others, despite her inner voices disputing her decision, despite her fear.

Where in her younger years she is condemned for hearing voices and being different, here she is seen as special, as blessed with the ability to perceive a better path. Her compassion redeems a son not become his cruel father, ending a cycle of unnecessary violence. Monstrous giants see her as kin, recognizing the burden she carries on her shoulders, and how she was once like them. Senua uses what she has learned from her sacrifice to help others, to help those who are going through what she has gone through. The giants could not move on for one reason or another like she couldn't. So she helps them like she helped herself.

Monsters are just names we call things we fear, that we don’t understand. But through these names, we can see flawed things in a different light, as vile and dangerous. Names tell us how to see, so perhaps we need to believe in a world with kinder names, for a better way of seeing.

"All monsters were once men."

The story of Senua is twofold, about coping with her illness and what it does to the people around her, but also about being responsible with her newfound perspective, using it to show other people facing similar issues what she has learned. As she was once lost, now she leads the lost. It is about choice and agency, regaining control of your narrative, from your parents, from your illness, and your doubts. It is about the name you are given, and the one you choose for yourself.

Maybe the more dangerous and invisible darkness inside someone is not the voices you hear in your head, but the lies you remember, the abuse you bore all your life, and how that is also a responsibility you carry, to change. Senua is not her father's sins, her mother's psychosis, or the voices inside her head. She is all of this, and so much more.

A popular way to open an article about an interesting piece of media goes something like this: "There's a moment in X where Y happens. Here's what it made me realize/how it made me feel." It's a good entry point, not only because it illustrates something about the experience, but because it lets the author connect their emotional tether to the work right away. You tell the reader about this moment, and in the process, you're drawn back into it yourself. In some cases, the moment you share is the one when you realized that the game was special.

For me, Wide Ocean Big Jacket - a short, sweet game about two adults and two children who go camping over a weekend - is twenty-or-so such opening anecdotes stitched together. There's a moment in Wide Ocean Big Jacket where young protagonists Mord and Ben encounter a group of what the game assures us are "Mean Teens". There's a moment in Wide Ocean Big Jacket where one character tells the others a surprising horror story. There's a moment where the two adult characters, Cloanne and Brad, must decide whether or not to let their discussion simmer over into an argument. Stitch all of these moments together and you have a full game where nothing really happens but everything feels impactful.

I don't remember what prompted me to pick up Wide Ocean Big Jacket back when it launched on Switch, but I remember the dawning sense that it was something I liked. I am not sure at what point I realized that I, in fact, fully loved it. I know it happened within an hour because that's about how long it takes to hit the ending. And since then the four central characters have occupied a small space in my heart, setting their tent up and roasting wieners on the fire so that the smell sometimes wafts up to my brain.

"Stitch all of these moments together and you have a full game where nothing really happens but everything feels impactful."

Wide Ocean Big Jacket is a tiny narrative game about a couple, Brad and Cloanne, who have taken Brad's 13-year-old niece Mord and her boyfriend Ben away on a camping trip for the weekend. There are no huge revelations, no twists or subversions of genre or anything like that. You control all four characters at various points, and when they speak the screen displays their face and text over a black background. The animation is done with few frames, and the world is rendered in limited, blocky polygon shapes. It's absolutely gorgeous.

Many of the games I really love have a distinct voice, and Wide Ocean Big Jacket's sense of irreverent nostalgia feels unique from the nostalgia in other games - in part, perhaps, because it feels very modern. It's a celebration not so much of camping, but of the idea of camping - of what happens when you step away from the "real world" for a little while and live what feels like a short, separate little life. It's not an escape, it's a vacation, and that's how Wide Ocean Big Jacket feels, too. It's a little stopgap from the wider world of games, a calm little island that doesn't ask too much from you. There are no puzzles to solve or challenges to traverse. You're here to enjoy the characters, the art, the little slice of a world that the game has carved out. It's a holiday you can go on whenever you have a spare hour.

A huge part of Wide Ocean Big Jacket's power is in how short it is, how little time you have with these characters. It gives every choice the game makes an extra layer of significance, and you feel like you can capture the whole thing in your head. The dialogue and writing - the game contains 10,000 words of text, but feels much smaller than that - is evocative throughout. A text prompt might welcome you to "POP A SQUAT" or "PEE IN THE BUSH". At one point, as you roast hot dogs, the text prompt to progress the story just reads "OH YEAH BAY-BE".

"It's a celebration not so much of camping, but of the idea of camping - of what happens when you step away from the "real world" for a little while and live what feels like a short, separate little life."

The script is extremely economical in explaining who these characters are, and what their relationships with each other look like. Cloanne and Ben are more serious-minded, more introspective, but informed by different experiences and desires; Cloanne is a capital-A Adult, whereas Ben seems young for 13, projecting real "this child must be protected" energy. Mord, with her bright-pink elbows and spindly limbs, simply wants to absorb everything, to talk to everyone, and has no sense of how annoying she might be. Brad is in his element, quietly thrilled to be camping with his niece. The real meat of the game comes from observing them, thinking about how they fit together, enjoying their antics. There's not a lot to do in Wide Ocean Big Jacket, but that never feels like a problem. You can imagine the lives these characters came from, and the ones they're returning to, largely unchanged by the low-stakes weekend they've just enjoyed.

The dialogue does not follow any specific grammatical rules - Cloanne is the most grammatically formal of them all, whereas Mord and Ben are carried by the sort of vibes that will be familiar to anyone who has spent too much time online. "(ha ha i can not believe you yelled back)", Ben whispers to Mord after encountering the Mean Teens. Later, as he starts to panic about being away from camp as night sets in, he exclaims his fears in perfect Twitter-speak: "I Guess I Just Feel Weird How Dark It's Getting". It feels like these characters are in a group chat, which gives you, as a player, the feeling of having been invited into something personal and exclusive. When Mord uses the wrong "it's", I like to think it's not a typo, that's just her style.

This is the sort of thing that's very difficult to get right, a balance that few games manage - go too hard and it feels like a focus-grouped bit, not hard enough and it feels insincere. But Wide Ocean Big Jacket's dialogue is so sweet, so considered, so evocative. It means that the game can take you anywhere - into any of the moments that might have made for a good article opener.

Wide Ocean Big Jacket is a one-off story, with no branching paths, no meaningful player choices, no big hidden surprises beyond a few interactions you might miss. There's an extra little story that was added in a post-launch update - and also released as a standalone demo on PC - but the core game is just a small and beautiful thing. At one point in the game, Ben sums it all up: "(It's) like I'm living a 'Full Life' but just smaller." That's Wide Ocean Big Jacket - it's camping. A full life, but small.