I played a short one this week as I have run out of time doing family stuff and only had a few hours to play a game. This weeks game reminded me of a time when things were easygoing and I had a less cynical view of the world.

This week is Simpler Times.

Simpler Times is a narrative game from Stoneskip and Iam8bit Presents. The game was released for the PC in June 2024 and retails for $10.

Sometime in our life, we will all have to step into the unknown, facing difficulties and hopefully coming out on the other side more well-rounded than we were before the journey. It is a part of life and Simpler Times has players fill the shoes of a young girl named Tiana who is on her way to college and, more often than not, reliving fond and difficult memories. The game is broken up into four seasons and each section focuses on a specific topic, some more positive than others. Simpler Times hones in on these topics, not for the shock value, but because it is integral to the narrative. Coping with loss and self-reflection are two key takeaways and though the narrative is a little fractured, it does hit the mark towards the end.

The narrative is a nice experience. It had me a little lost, but it caught me towards the end.

The puzzles are integrated with the narrative and it is how the player learns who Tiana is. Tiana is the quintessential “good kid,” she likes nature and science and she loves her family. Simpler Times has Tiana take shape as the player draws and takes pictures of birds, and builds a birdhouse and a very intricate diorama. Dialogue is fragmented as the only way to trigger it is to interact with an object of importance and when done in the wrong order gives the player an incohesive story to put together.

There are loads of things to do in Simpler Times. The player is given specific tasks, noted down in Tiana’s journal, like building a birdhouse, painting, and building a rocket to finish the section and there are optional tasks that the player does not need to complete but give additional dialogue and that rewarding feeling of completing a task. The main puzzles drive the narrative so it feels more complex and more rewarding. One of the most memorable sections, for instance, definitely took me longer to complete because I was having so much fun listening to Tiana reminiscence while painting a dog in space.

There were times when I felt as though I was wandering around Tiana’s room looking for the next thing to grab to finish the often vague instructions but with the help of the journal (or notebook or scrapbook WHATEVER), it pushed me into a direction I needed.

The puzzles are fun and thinky, whether it is following directions to build a deer statue or messing with constellations to light the way, Simpler Times nails it.

Simpler Times hits the cozy look, too. Spring is bright and colorful, while winter is dark and mysterious. I caught myself getting lost in the birdwatching section because the game was so warm with its colors. I just got lost gazing at the birds that were obviously on a loop, but it did not matter because I was just taking in the sights and sounds that came over me.

The sounds are truly an aspect that I enjoyed the most. Lo-fi plays in the background just loud enough to have you acknowledge the lyrics and beat. Multiple times, I had heard a song that I ended up really enjoying and I immediately went to go find it online to add to a playlist. The music fits the vibe that the narrative is trying to tell and it connects every time.

Simpler Times is a delightful experience. The narrative is heavy and leaves a warm feeling in your heart by the end, the lo-fi music fits the game perfectly, and it looks great. It doesn’t usher you to do everything, Stoneskip wants you to zone out, get comfy, and get emotional about the world that Tiana inhabits. The puzzles, though a little easy, offer a welcomed distraction from the narrative that can disjointed at times. Lastly, I felt like the almost two-hour playtime is perfect for a game like this; it never felt stretched and then I was satisfied with the story by the end.

Good, cheap game that will leave you feeling a wide range of emotions by the end of it.

7/10