Together Alone: 'Pure Untainted Survival' in Near Death

Gamasutra recently posted a great analysis of Near Death, discussing the impact of isolation in indie games. Here are a few of our favorite quotes:

Games like this exemplify Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s famous aphorism “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

The mechanics are spot-on, and the game ramps up its difficulty in a ladder that scales with the growing intensity of the snowstorm outside, slowly allowing you to accumulate various skills, upgrades, and tactics in the process. The only thing you’re fighting is hypothermia; you’re constantly at risk of freezing to death and have to leap from one warm spot to another, often of your own hasty making. The storm, then, is not just a backdrop: it’s the setting, it’s your experience, it’s a character who charts the entire path of the game.

Near Death succeeds at creating a taut and fulfilling experience, and the solitude actually helps with that.

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