When I first saw the trailer for Season: A letter to the future I was inspired by the imagery – travelling across the countryside by bike, taking in the surroundings, and scrapbooking gameplay.
The game delivers a layered story and a mindful experience.
In Season: A letter to the future you play as Estelle, a young women on journey to document the end of season. She takes photos, sketches, and audio recordings to build her journal, with the goal to reach safety at the museum vault – for her memories to live on for future generations.
I was expecting Season to be an open world style exploration game but it became primarily an investigation of a specific region – Tieng Valley.
The citizens of Tieng Valley were not only preparing for the end of the season, but also a relocation due to expected flooding. The people that remained in the valley were all making their final preparations to move or remain.
Estelle’s interactions with them and the environment uncovers the history and secrets of the valley. Each discovery can be added to her journal where you can control the size and position of each element. I enjoyed the artistic element to building the story of Estelle’s journey.
The valley carries with it scars and memories from previous seasons. The remnants of war and artefacts from more prosperous times scatter the landscape.
I found change and grief in many forms were the grounding links throughout the game. Most of the characters you encounter are tackling loss in different ways – through spirituality, anger, denial, humour, or acceptance. The nature of impermanence is presented through a lens shared with eastern philosophy.
The voice acting in Season was superb. Each character had a unique voice and story to share.
The beautiful landscapes and were well served by the art style.
Season: A letter to the future is best played with a controller. I found both riding my bike, and investigating the environment on foot were easily managed with the controller layout. The settings allows for button reconfiguration as required.
The gameplay is undemanding and would be suitable to gamers of all skill levels.
I wish that the game had the option to easily go back to experience areas of Tieng Valley – to spend more time soaking up the rich environment and hidden journal inspirations. Unfortunately the system only allowed 1 save file per playthrough of the game, so there was no shortcut to experience different story choices without starting a new playthrough.
The average amount of time spent on a playthrough can vary wildly depending on your approach to the game. Other reviewers I spoke to about the game finished their playthroughs in around four to six hours. I was so captured by the story and environments I lost track of time exploring and designing my journal pages meticulously.
My playtime was closer to ten hours, and I feel there is more to the story to go back and discover. There are also a couple of branching storyline options that may warrant another playthrough.
Season: a letter to the future is recommend for gamers who enjoy putting together clues and chatting with characters to discover a complete story.
This game available now on Windows, PS5, and PS4.
