In my last article, I talked to you about the imaginary world of psychopomps - the soul-crossers who have inhabited our history for millennia, guiding us through our transformations.

Today, I'd like to take you back to the present for a few minutes to explore this concept a little differently: via video games.

Games about death that are anything but creepy

The conceptualization of death in the world of video games is far from new. Whether it's driving over a banana peel in Mario Kart, being locked between 4 walls in The Sims or being shot at in Fortnite, we're now used to seeing our characters/avatars die more or less brutally. It's all part of the game: lose and start again. 🤷‍♀️

The ability to press PLAY AGAIN to return to the last checkpoint puts death in the background of the story. The aim is no longer to avoid dying, but simply to win as many lives as possible! ⭐️

But can death have another role in video games? Who said, after all, that a character's sole purpose was to fight the mega boss? But what if he were to help us better tame the grim reaper?

Let me present you with a small (and completely subjective) selection of deadly positive games.

Each of them offers a singular vision of the end - exploring end-of-life, regret and mourning in worlds that are sometimes gentle and enchanting, sometimes melancholy and dark - but always with great poetry.

spiritfarer

This game is particularly in keeping with the theme, as you play the role of a psychopomp: Stella, the replacement for Charon (the Underworld ferryman in Greek mythology whose job it was to guide the souls of the dead into the afterlife by taking them across the River Styx in his boat).

Stella - newly promoted tospiritfarer - is tasked with finding spirits wandering between the worlds of the living and the dead, and guiding them to the tranquility of the afterlife.

If purgatory in our Western culture is reputed to be a place of penitence and pain where one can atone for one's sins, this is not the case here! The universe is soft, comforting and colorful - with each hand-drawn drawing giving the impression of having plunged into an open book.

Our role as soul messengers is to soothe these lost souls by building each of them a unique home on our boat, cooking them their favorite meal, giving them the best hugs I've ever seen in a video game, but above all helping them to make peace with their lives and the trials of the past.

Far from being a heavy and serious subject, the end of life here is explored with such generosity and joy, that it brings a breath of serenity. The result is a play with a particularly benevolent vision of death, reminding us that every moment is as fragile as it is precious.

Contrary to what you might think, its "cuteness" doesn't make it a silly game at all. On the contrary, what touched me most about this game was its humanity. Although each spirit takes the form of an anthropomorphic animal, they are profoundly human - with their qualities and flaws, their regrets, resentments and fears. Whether we like them or not, our soul broker and her cat Dafodil will be there for each and every one of them, without judgment.

Grey

The game that inspired my name? Maybe... partly 😉

But above all, it's a particularly touching game, as it explores the trauma of grief in all its most powerful aspects: crushing, paralyzing, piercing, vivid... always present and always changing.

How do you rebuild in the face of loss? How do you regain control?

Lost in a world devoid of color, a young woman evolves in a world constructed like a dream, where the only enemy is her mind. Gris is a journey where there is no choice but to move forward and rebuild her life by accepting and learning to live with mourning (materialized here by her dress).

As the story progresses, our character will grow emotionally and tame his pain - enabling him to explore new paths and see the world differently.
Each level, each new stage of his inner journey will bring a touch of color to the landscape:
a little red, and he'll have to face a scorching, overpowering desert environment; but a touch of green will bring hope; blue will bring peace; and finally, yellow, the light that will illuminate paths previously unseen.

I can't describe how poignant this game is. With no words and rare simplicity, it's a game that appeals above all to the senses. The sensitivity of the watercolors, combined with a particularly haunting soundtrack, literally plunges us into the heart of poetry.

As beautiful as it is moving, it's clear that you won't come away unscathed.

Old Man's Journey

With a game play completely different from what we're used to, this game is a sweet little nugget.

Here, we accompany an old man on his final journey to forgiveness. And our role is to guide him through the hills, rivers and mountains of the Irish countryside, modulating the landscape to help him find his way.

An adventure that invites us to share our sorrows, broken dreams and hopes, but also to slow down and take our time. For this is clearly not a game about speed - with its peaceful, hand-drawn world and beautifully coordinated music, it's all about slowing down and exploring.

It's a game imbued with a great deal of poetry and melancholy, which particularly touched me and will stay with me for a long time.

"May the road rise up to meet you

ancient Irish prayer

arise: a simple story

In a similar vein to The Old Man's Journey, Arise: A Simple Story is a game in which you have to manipulate time rather than landscape in order to move forward.

Here, everything begins at the end.

Following his death, our character - an old Viking - embarks on his final journey in search of eternal rest. By retracing each stage of his life, the game invites us to explore time - both mechanically and narratively. From love and joy to fear and mourning, an emotional adventure awaits us.

More common graphically speaking than The Old Man's Journey or Gris, it's no less touching. With its moving music and the ability to move forward or backward in time to modulate its environment, this game offers us a singular and moving journey that's well worth experiencing.

Limbo

In stark contrast to the 4 games mentioned above, Limbo is, in its own way, a veritable graphic gem. Here, we leave the colorful world behind and plunge into the darkness of limbo - that place between life and death where the souls of unbaptized children dwell.

Morbidly poetic, we move through a world dominated by darkness. Our character - a frail little boy - has only one goal: to find his sister, who is also trapped in limbo.

As in Gris, with no dialogue and alone to face our fears, there's no choice but to move forward and face the unknown. Sometimes a little macabre, it's far from gloomy. With its minimalist approach to drawing, and its universe all in shades of black, it's as dark as it is poetic.

Thanks to its attention to detail, it offers an emotionally powerful experience. The oppressive atmosphere and absence of music create a sense of loneliness that grips the soul.

Unique, strange and spellbinding, Limbo is an exploration of failure, perseverance and brotherly love. By far my favorite game after Gris.

Focusing on our transformation in the face of death, you won't come away from these games unscathed.

With the exception of Spiritfarer, where Stella interacts with other characters, all these games are dialogue-free - our characters are alone with their own story. This creates a mirror effect. Despite differences in gender and age, it's easy to identify with and be affected by their experiences - to draw parallels with our own. Refusal, regret, courage, tenderness, love - everything is explored.

By offering us a more poetic, inclusive and meditative approach to end-of-life and bereavement, each of these characters, in his or her own way, comes to virtually guide us and enable us to better tame the end - and thus celebrate life.
And isn't that what it's all about?

If you've already played any of these games, or if you have any recommendations, drop me a line!

The next 5 on my list:

Felix the Reaper
What Remains of Edith Finch
Night in the Woods
Outer wilds
To the Moon

death in video games