Confetti’s Cozy Corner: The creators of Coffee Talk, tell yet another incredible story!
From the creators of Coffee Talk and the publishers of A Space for the Unbound comes Undusted: Letters from the Past, another emotionally fulfilling story about a girl named Adora returning to her childhood home after her mother passes away.
Undusted: Letters from the Past centers on Adora, who dreams of becoming a successful music composer despite the odds against her. This is an ASMR, narrative story whose main mechanic revolves around story telling and cleaning sentimental objects that hold fond memories for Adora. As Adora cleans her family home, she reflects on her childhood and memories with her family that help her understand her parents from a new, mature perspective.
The game’s main theme is learning how to cope with grief, while challenging the player to see grief from a wider lens. At some point in life, all humans will experience loss of some kind, and while you are grieving there will be others who will be going through the same cycle. As you move through the chapters, and get a more in-depth understanding of Adora’s childhood family dynamic, each object you clean will begin to feel more special and you will want to clean them all thoroughly.
Empathy for others, while it can come to some naturally, is something you can work at or gain when you experience the same challenges. Stephen Colbert stated about grief and empathy: “Yes. It’s a gift to exist. And with existence comes suffering. There’s no escaping that. But if you are grateful for your life. Then you have to be grateful for all of it. And so, at a young age. I suffered something so that by the time I was in serious relationships in my life with friends or with my wife or with my children, is that I have some understanding that everybody is suffering and however imperfectly, acknowledge their suffering and connect with them and to love them in a deep way that makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered so that you can know that about other people. I want to be the most human I can be, and that involves acknowledging and ultimately being grateful for the things that I wish didn’t happen because they gave me a gift” [CNN, 2022].
This game does a great job of presenting the way a narrow perspective can affect the ability to empathize with others. When we meet Adora, we see her at a point in her life where she is emotionally stuck. She is angry but it is unclear what exactly she is angry about. However, as the story moves along, we begin to see her perspective widen and begin to heal the anger she holds and move towards acceptance of the many realities in front of her.
When you are experiencing pain, it can be hard to see the world outside of that pain or oneself and see that others may be experiencing the same.
Undusted: Letters from the Past mechanics are straight forward but can be adjusted in the settings, especially when it comes to the cleaning mechanic. Adora will clean with various tools such as: a sponge, tooth brush, police and a vacuum deepening on the object being cleaned in the moment. Each object and cleaning tool have very satisfying ASMR sounds. The beautiful artwork and enriching background music and ASMR sounds, coupled with the relaxing mechanic of cleaning contribute to the relaxing vibe that the player experiences during the game.
There is no timer, so there is no need to feel rushed while cleaning the objects. Just a small tip, from your resident indie gamer gurlie: rotate and interact with all of the objects as much as you can, you may get a surprise!
Unlike other Toge Productions game titles, there was no clear evidence of queer representation. While we do learn more about Adora, we do not know much about her present life outside of her coming home to deal with the passing of her mother. A dynamic that would have been cool to explore to see how Adora handles grief in her romantic relationships as an adult. Adora’s aunt, her mother’s sister, is a recurring character in the story that has been a big support to Adora and her journey growing up. The aunt encourages Adora to take her time cleaning her mother’s home and going through her belongings, potentially knowing that Adora would gain something that aids in coping with her grief.
Games like Undusted: Letters from the Past are a sharp reminder that games can be a tool that not only educates gamers but provides comfort. While ‘cozy’ is not a genre of games, it is a valid feeling to have when playing games, especially one’s that have tough themes such as parental death. All gamers have a story and come from different walks of life, being united in things that we experience in life and games, can lead to having deeper empathy for one another.
This game is emotional and very intimate, which is to be expected from a Toge Productions title. They have once against hit the ball out of the park with this title. If you are someone on a journey dealing with grief, feeling stuck, or just looking for a game with a good story, get on to Undusted: Letters from the Past.
Undusted: Letters from the Past is available now on Steam and the Nintendo Switch from today (October 16th) for $9.99.
Score: 10/10
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