Free Game Wednesday? Yup! How about short, intriguing and incredible looking pixel-art mystery adventure with How We Know We're Alive. Missed this one originally as it didn't mention Linux in the announcement trailer but it seems it did release for Linux too!
It's a free hour long melancholy, point-and-click narrative mystery set in the bible belt of Sweden. The visuals are what really pull you in though. Mixing together pixel-art with some great lighting and other effects, it does genuinely look quite spectacular.
Welcome to Härunga – a small industrial town in the bible belt of the mid–north of Sweden. You play as Sara, an aspiring writer who, after having been away for 10 years, returns home in order to investigate the tragic fate of her estranged best friend.
The days grow short quickly this far up north – and the rain never seems to let up...
About the developer: in 2018, a pair of pixel art animations posted by Swedish animator August Håkansson went viral on the /r/sweden subreddit. Touching an unexpected nerve, a lot people quickly suggested taking these small pixel art scenes and turning them into a fully fledged game. Having little to no experience making games August got together with long time collaborator and 3D artist Leo Köhler and started planning the development that would eventually lead to the founding of Motvind Studios and HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE.
You can grab How We Know We're Alive free on itch.io or pay to get the Deluxe edition for a few little extras to support the developer.
I didn't know Sweden had a second bible belt up north. Technically I think this should be bible suspenders.
AFAIK there isn't so not really sure what they mean by mid-north since the Bible belt is around Jönköping in the mid-south... Perhaps they are imagining such a belt just as they imagined the town of Härunga?
edit: And towns ending with -unga is extremely common in Västra Götaland around Gothenburg.
edit2: But then the Chief of Police talks about the road south to Stockholm so they are definitely north of Stockholm.
Last edited by F.Ultra on 3 July 2021 at 6:53 pm UTC
Ehm excuse me. The swedish bible belt is in Småland which is in the mid-south of sweden.
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