It is a top-down adventure game called A Day Without Me, created by an Indonesian indie game developer called Gamecom Team. Despite having such a small time gameplay and minimalistic graphics, the game still provides an eerie and intense gameplay that no one will find similar. It immerses the players in the world where all people are suddenly gone-and you are left alone.
An Absurd Plot
The game opens with an innocent way: you wake up being at home, as always. There is something, though, that is, wrong. No one is in the streets, no one on the phones and not a soul in the surroundings. What happened? Where were they gone? And more to the point about it, why do you still here?
The things start going surreal as you progress in exploring. You will also get to meet weird symbols, self guided furniture even blind monsters. There is no spoon feeding of answers in the game. Rather, it challenges you to form the story by following clues left in the environment, offering plenty of room to the interpretation.
Baca Juga! April’s Diary: Game Lokal Indonesia yang Hadirkan Misteri dan Romansa dalam Balutan Visual Novel
Simple Gameplay, Deep Questions
On the fundamentals, A Day Without Me is a simple game. Your character is controlled top down and you are wandering around the once inhabited town picking up items solving puzzles and peeling off the mystery bit by bit. No fighting and action. It is slow burn warming, it is an instant kind of attack on your feelings.
There are locked doors to be opened by keys, riddles to be solved with the help of logic and cryptical orders that do not seem to make sense in the first sight. Well that is sort of the point. The entire game seems to be some kind of a metaphor, isolation, confusion, perhaps a type of depression.
Atmosphere Over Action
The atmosphere is what the game excels at. The silence, the deserted streets, the somehow out of tune music – all this lends to this air of unease. It is not pure horror but rather uneasiness, like the experience when you open your eyes after a weird dream, and you just cannot forget it.
The game is truly a polygonal affair, with the simplicity to add to the surreal charm associated with the game. It is as though one stands betwixt worlds, and neither very real nor imagined.
Baca Juga! Montabi: The Monster Taming Game You Need on Your Playlist
Short but Thought-Provoking
But A Day Without Me needs a completion time of approximately 30 minutes to 3 hour, depending on the difficulty you crack. It is short, yes but the game does not kill your time. All the scenes, all the objects, and all the symbols are supposed to be questionable but not answerable.
In case you like these bite-sized narrative games: the games that you can complete in a single sitting yet give you something to think about afterwards; you will like this game.
Rough Edges, But a Heartfelt Effort
As an indie game, it has the technical flaws. The controls are sometimes stiff and cumbersome, animations are rigid and at times some bugs may appear. However, the problems can be excused given the meager resources that the small developer has.
The thing is that the game does not fear to be different. It does not adhere to story telling or game mechanics. Rather, it tries to establish the tone, the atmosphere, the environment where you, the player, can sit in doubt.
An Mysterious And Atmospheric Game
A Day Without Me is not something everyone would like. Neither is it shiny, or lengthy or action-packed. But it never forgets. It is the sort of game that leaves you with questions more than answers and that is exactly where the point is.
When you want something short, a bit mysterious, atmospheric that can make you feel lost in just the right ways, then A Day Without Me may be your next indie gem.
Baca Juga ! She and the Light Bearer: A Poetic Point-and-Click Game from Indonesia
References :