For once.... this is not a Steam Next Fest demo!

In fact, I found Old Man's Journey in the same charity bundle I found Landlord of the Woods, on Itch.
Trying as always not to know too much before playing, the game page on the site immediately caught my attention with the header: the landscape behind and its colors, the "Old Man" with his backpack watching the sunrise behind the nice detailed logo, but with an expression on his face that was anything but heroic or even just of someone who is living the adventure of a lifetime.

He seemed melancholic, worried or somehow pensive. As if he had been forced to make that journey.

And then the graphics were beautiful.

From there I got the impression that Old Man's Journey was a game that was definitely worth playing.

As the title suggests, Old Man's Journey tells the story of an old man who, upon receiving a mysterious letter, sets off on a long and difficult journey, but whose destination he already seems to know.
His adventure will take him across beautiful landscapes and resurrect old and painful regrets. A story about difficult choices, lost hopes and unexpected reconnections, where we are called to shape his path and guide him through it to his final stop.

A charming illustrated and animated book born from a collaboration between Broken Rules and Salon Alpin, the animation studio which they shared offices with.
That's really how I see this game: a real book, because it's not at all difficult to imagine it in physical form instead of a puzzle video game, with a beautiful colorful cover and leafed through page by page, from the old man's departure to his arrival.

The game itself is a hand-drawn 2D, very original, simple but full of beautiful details that literally bring the landscapes to life. In every corner, crack and niche there are plants, vases, signs, bushes, blades of grass, rocks, birds, street lamps, frogs, small houses, posters, photos and much more. Countless textures and hundreds of small non-functional and often not even interactive things. They are there just for the sake of the glimpses of the landscapes and this is -in my opinion- a big part of their beauty. With all this attention to detail, every scene is incredibly alive and true beyond the "children's book style" in which the game is created. It gives the feeling of being there traveling with our unnamed old man.

At the moment, I don't know if Salon Alpin was the only one to handle all the concepts and animations while Broken Rules took care of the programming and all the other technical part related to the game, or if it was a shared task. Whatever the answer, the result is simply beautiful.
The animation is fantastic and not only is it consistent with the art style, but it manages to subtly enhance it, while still sharing the same simplicity.

In my opinion, a more complex animation would have clashed with the overall look and feel, creating a heavier "visual load" that would easily distract from what is shown and happens in the foreground.
For example, in the more distant levels, such as the far background, the sky and the walls of the buildings, are often static illustrations; the stormy sea is made of images of waves and the animation moves them back and forth in a theatrical-like way; same thing for the trees, especially the bare ones, where it is obvious that the branches are not animated individually.

The game itself is more like an interactive story than a puzzle.
The focus is always on the narrative and the puzzles are very enjoyable interactions, without which the game would be a pure scrolling visual novel.

It's billed as a laid-back game, so the limitation to just 2-3 mechanics not only makes perfect sense but is also a good balance between immersing yourself in the story and interacting with the game itself.

As our "Old Man" begins his journey, there will be many beautiful landscapes that he will see and the purpose of each scene is to guide him to the opposite end by creating a path that he can travel: if he comes down from above, there must be a lower level that can be reached; if he comes from the left, there must be a way to go to the right without obstacles and vice-versa.

For most of the time, the landscape consists of hills and villages/small towns with many levels at different heights.

• The Old Man can only walk on a path when the highest profile of each hill touches the next. The profiles are outlined with a thick yellow line and you can tell when they are in contact by a small circle.
• It's not possible to move the level on which the Old Man is standing.
• There are small immovable points that the Old Man can stand on and that allow us to drag and move any other point freely (e.g. groups of large rocks or brick structures created by people).
• If there is a waterfall of some sort, the Old Man will slide down to the lowest level reachable, and will do so even when you can see the small clouds at the top. It is virtually impossible to stop him or make him slide from a point other than the one predetermined by the game (for example, if the waterfall is wide enough, make him slide from the far left instead of the center or vice-versa).

To create your path, grab and drag the yellow line of the moving part's profile either up or down, until it comes into contact with the other line.
The mechanics are simple, but the solution is not always easy and linear to find. Some points require you to invest a bit of time to rack your brains.
Despite this, however, it can be said that the solution is practically never really difficult and this makes the game suitable for all types of players and ages.

~Minor spoilers to follow~
(Gameplay/Meccaniche)

Overall, the mechanics you will find are:

• create a path for our Old Man. You can do this by dragging the yellow lines until they touch. When this happens, a yellow circle appears.
• waterfalls force the Old Man to slide down to their base. The point which he will fall from is the first white cloud at the top. Small waterfalls have only one cloud, while larger ones have two (one on each side which the Old Man can theoretically arrive from).
• At some point, you'll come across some abandoned millstones. You will have to create a path, with the same mechanics as usual, to roll them away. They'll break the walls that prevent the Old Man from continuing along the path.
• The last one is the... sheep. During the journey you will be able to encounter several flocks, which will block the path in a similar way to the walls. You have to click on them to make them move somewhere else, but the distance they'll go will be short. If you click again, depending on the area they are in at that moment, they'll return to their previous position or they'll move again to a third position.
  When they are present you'll have to understand the sequence of movements you have to make and in what precise order, to free the path and allow the Old Man to continue.

They're practically all here.

The game is structured to have a slow and relaxed pace, with some food for thought regarding the story.

The soundtrack fits well with all the other parts of the game. The music is a discreet background but at the same time it is the director of both the mood and the atmosphere, in the sense that without it it would be difficult, especially in certain areas, to understand exactly how we are supposed to feel.

I mean, a stormy sea can evoke either the pure fear of the "terrifying fury of the elements", or something that excites for its magnificence. It can also be something deeper and more disturbing, that can be connected to the old man's journey and his past. Something evocative if not cathartic: an unexpected journey that makes him reflect on what he carries inside.

The music is what makes the difference and guides the player to understand, or at least to have some clues, about what he should feel and think about those specific scenes: is the storm only in the elements or also in his soul?

One of the things I liked most about the soundtrack is that even considering its importance within the game, its volume is low and there are hundreds of other sounds, related to the environment: the chirping of birds, the retrieval of a fishing line by a fisherman, crickets in the grass, the creaking of a bench, the rain falling, etc.

This way, no matter how important the music is, there are no breaks in immersion and you'll never be alienated from the world within the game.

Old Man's Journey is a game that is good for the heart. With a thought-provoking story and adorable, colorful graphics, it's the right game for a quiet afternoon or evening where you want to play a pleasant, uncomplicated game with an unexpectedly deep story.

The single and repeated puzzle mechanics allow you not to invest too much mental energy, beyond figuring out how to move on to the next scene. You can take all the time you want to build the Old Man's path and follow his slow but inexorable journey.

I found the game immersive and despite the picture-book graphics, it was easy to feel like I was there, amidst colorful fields and hills, on quiet country roads and paths, among streams and old bridges.

~Spoilers to follow~
(Story)

During the game I particularly appreciated the Old Man's stops, whether it was to wait for a vehicle to arrive or to eat something, and the flashbacks that were often connected to them.

They are moments of calm between one stage of the journey and another, and yet, as is easy to imagine, they are at the same time small doors that lead to inner paths. The simple desire to eat a bite or even just to stop often pushes us to look at distant memories, regrets and remorse, hopes and fears, weighing what has been, what is and what could be.

Those moments when, sometimes, you decide to take new decisions and grab destiny by the horns, to try to make it turn its head in a specific direction instead of letting it charge in the one you prefer.

Ultimately, this is what the Old Man is doing and this is what he faces during his journey: the sorrows of the past, the guilt, the mistakes, maybe even the pride of those who have forced themselves not to look back each time, ending up playing the part of the absent and distant father rather than admitting that, at a certain point, freedom has transformed into regret.

Despite this I don't want to put all the blame on the Old Man: not everyone is made to have a family, sometimes it just happens or after you have given in to social or family pressure, especially in past eras.
Life is one, often we are afraid of missing opportunities, of having to turn our existence upside down, sometimes things happen at the worst time and we let ourselves be scared, making decisions that we may regret years later.

Of course, when you are a child it's hard to think that a parent may not have wanted you, or that he or she abandoned the family so as not to "give up on the fun", but life can be really complex and sometimes it also happens that as the years go by, you realize that something is missing or that perhaps that decision that in your youth seemed the right one now begins to have a weight.

Or perhaps, as in the game, the ghosts of the past harden the heart until something comes along breaking the armor and bringing out what is still soft and fragile inside.

As difficult as it may be, you may have to recognize that you are not born a parent, that existence has many curves and strange events along the way and that people try to live the only life they have, for better or for worse. There is not always selfishness or indifference at the base and it is not a given that someone who has not made himself heard for years is truly happy with himself and is not simply incapable of reacting, devoured by remorse or blocked by stupid pride.

Sometimes, in short, an opportunity is enough, however unfortunate and sad, to change the course of events that have remained solid over the years and to open doors that have been locked shut for time immemorial.
Opportunities that, for better or for worse, should be seized or even just considered.