“Lieve Oma” by Florian Veltman.
“My grandmother is probably the most important person ever to me, as she provided me with the stability and care a child needs growing up. We all have or have had people helping us become a responsible and caring person, and this short narrative game is an ode to these people.”
It all begins as a little collecting game: Your grandmother wants you to help her to find some edible mushrooms for dinner. But as you, more or less voluntarily, continue to do so, a little chat between the two of you unfolds. A chat about your struggles with the changes in life, about your problems and insecurity. What starts as a simple run-around-and-find-things game, shortly appears to transform into one of the most profound gaming experiences about the importance of support in childhood.
Step by step more details about the family situation of the main character get revealed. It might not seem to be something too tragic (a divorce, a moving and a new school), but you have to see it with the eyes of a child to fully understand it: Your whole life gets shaken up in such situations when you are little. But in “Lieve Oma”, your grandmother knows exactly the right words to calm you down.
In two levels of time, the protagonist’s relationship with their adorable grandma gets shown; the one where you play as a kid and the one where you play as an adult. In both you will wander through the same beautiful forest and can see how this special family bond grows. If you are looking for a wholesome, heartwarming game, then you found it. [PLAY]
