Talkin' 'Bout Tiny Games

Stones of Solace

This issue was supposed to come out after the first issue of the two parter I mentioned before, but as it turns out my writing on that two parter was delayed for a time-sensitive longform issue that’s set to come out sometime early 2022, so this issue is coming out early as a break between writing two big issues back-to-back.

Stones of Solace is a cozily fantastical take on what I think I’d tentatively call ‘routine’ games – games that are structured around letting a player play whatever small dish of gameplay it’s served them for the day before preventing any more progress. The previously covered The Sailor’s Dream has routine mechanics, and you’re likely familiar with them being a mainstay of the Animal Crossing games, or in the emotionally rending Bird Alone. (Damn you, George Batchelor!)

They and related mechanics have also been used to wring money for many free-to-play games, but that’s not to say they’re worthless – routine games at their best, use that meted progress in order to emphasize the experience of a game that’s reliant on patience and time investment measured in days instead of hours, of an experience that is actively hurt by a binge playstyle. Bird Alone used it progress the player’s relationship with the titular bird at a measured and believable pace, while Stones of Solace uses it to build playing the game into a ritual.

The routine of the game is this: open up the game, be greeted with the day’s idol, arrange a decorative offering, close the game. That’s it. The idols are a mix between fantastical and folkloric – they may be humble caterpillars or trusted swords, but while come carry a sense of weight and elegance none are mighty. All of them are idols of the intangible, somewhere between persona and symbol, and in that ambiguity you can let your mind wander in silence, and contemplate the domain over which they preside.

Each idol has its own pedestal for leaving an offering, and its own set of offering decorations for it – little things of nature like flowers, leaves, and stones. Leaving offerings lets you click-and-drag to arrange the various decorations in whatever designs you can think of, and once you’re finished a swirl of light surrounds the idol, its patron having received the tribute. (Steam’ll also immediately take a screenshot, but it won’t be saved unless you choose to do so.)

This small bit of time spent in the realm of the various idols builds an experience wherein you build a ritual with the game’s little pantheon of deities – you leave offerings for one everyday, in a manner fitting of a worshipper of folk gods. This in turn, along with the lush and dreamy aesthetic allows you passage into a brief headspace of quiet and connection, before you get on with your day.

(You’ll also probably have a favourite – all of the idols are charming, but I found myself particularly drawn to Baleen Fossil. It presides over something important to me, so it wasn’t much of a competition, and it’s so pretty, to boot.)

Specifications

• Mac, Windows
• Free
• ~1 hour, over the course of less than a month (?)