September 2022 Progress Report

Lovingly stalk a family of 5 as they take a work-vacation to a dense and isolated forest; find out the reason they are there and follow them back home.

6+ hours, an open-world exploration walking sim with collectables. 7 areas, 7 chapters, 91 collectables (Runic Stones) and sort-of multiple endings. The graphics, voice actors, story, and music were really good! Interacting with a Runic Stone releases a spirit animal to wander around the map, and the more Runic Stones you interacted with the more abilities gained such as Sit, Lay Down, and Become Corporeal. The spirit animal you play as isn’t visible to humans in the beginning, so it makes for some fun reactions.

My only real complaint is the endings; in which they play one after another once the game ends, like the developers didn’t know how to end the game so they tacked all of them on at the same time; and some clearly had cut content because they made absolutely no sense, and almost dragged this review down to a negative. The Chapter 7 area is very linear, but it was definitely rushed. Buildings were missing walls, roofs, sides, but not in a “This building is destroyed or dilapidated” way, like it was straight up unfinished. There also were, quite a few loose ends never wrapped up, some story elements introduced and never expanded upon. I do want to make it clear; that this was a really, really good game that was genuinely fun to play until this point in the story, and I still hesitantly recommend The Companion.

Play as Edward searching for his sister in an old costal village nestled in a Fjord; formerly a mining town turned fishing called Graavik, the only way in and out is by boat. Your young and energetic ward Lissie has come along with you on this grand adventure, but arriving at this cozy seaside area, it’s immediately notable that something is amiss; every person has mysteriously vanished including the inviting hosts for your supposedly short stay. Search for clues, look at evidence, and draw conclusions as to why so many people are missing, and look for traces of your sister among them.

Set in 1920’s Norway, Draugen is a pretty entertaining 3+ hour exploration and walking sim with some dark themes. There are mentions and depictions of suicides, murder, and severe mental illness; and two sort-of mild jump scares in the game, with one being a figure backlight by lightning, and another a crow in the mines when you peek through a hole to look into a room. Visually stunning, it’s a bit regrettable that Draugen takes place in such a small explorable village -It would have been nice to see and enter more houses. The ending is open, there are dialogue choices and while they don’t change any gameplay or the ending, it changes how your character perceives things. Overall, for a three-hour game, it’s pretty good and worth checking out even if you don’t like games with darker tones.

100 Hidden Hares is an incredibly easy 10-minute Hidden Object Game in which you look for hares in a hand drawn background which, upon a closer look, resembles a lovely winter village that was bombarded unmercifully with furry fluffballs and presents. Clicking each hare results in an achievement; and it’s satisfyingly simple to finish this game with it’s interesting music and cute animations.
Pressing “N” turns the game into night mode for easier viewing, and “Delete” then “Esc” to reset all the achievements so you could earn them again if that’s something you wanted to do.