Summer Games Fest 2023: Simpler Times Preview

Summer Games Fest is currently underway! Today, we got to play a nice little game called Simpler Times at the Day of the Devs booth from iam8bit and Transylvania based studio stoneskip. The developers we talked to described the game as being a chill vibes simulator, and I couldn’t agree more.

In the game, you play as Taina as she is about to leave her childhood home and she reminisces in her bedroom before moving on to the next stage of her life. The game takes place solely in Taina’s bedroom and you traverse back in time as you go through multiple eras of her life to see how her life has taken shape thus far.

We got to experience the first era of Taina’s life as she looks through and finishes up packing her room before leaving. The gameplay was extremely relaxing as I just explored her room with most things being interactable and listening to her talk about her history with most of the objects I interacted with. You can totally take your time exploring every inch of Taina’s room. You can move on to the next era of her life by interacting with the record player in her room, though we weren’t able to see the next era during our demo.

Speaking of the record player, the best part of Simpler Times though was easily the music. The music is what makes the game a chill vibes simulator. I felt like I could easily just lie down in bed and listen to it on repeat all day. The developers even said they listen to it in a screen saver mode for the game.

Simpler Times is set to release on PC at some point in 2024.

Zachary Dalton: I have a major passion for video games, the stories they tell, and writing about them. Avid believer that video games present the best storytelling opportunities out of any media, and that needs to be conveyed. Former competitive Pokemon player. Attended university to study game development. Wouldn't be who I am today without games.
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