2019-03-01_PC_Gamer

T

he Stillness of the Wind,

while not an ear-grabbing

name, is instantly

recognisable as the work of

Coyan Cardenas. It’s actually an

expanded version of his

contemplative 2017 game,Where the

Goats Are, and uses the same

rich palette of yellows and

oranges, flecked with turquoise,

to sketch a remote farmstead

and its lone inhabitant, Talma.

A slowly unfurling rural tale

THE STILLNESS

OF THE WIND

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE

“When the goats are ready”

DEVELOPER

Memory of God, Lambic Studios

PUBLISHER

Fellow Traveller

LINK

http://www.bit.ly/StillnessOfWind

PLAYED

IT

At the start The Stillness of the Wind

presents a rural idyll of sorts, where you

guide Talma through a daily routine of

gardening, milking goats, collecting eggs,

making cheese and chatting to a pedlar

who pops by to barter or drop off mail.

But the shotgun leaning against the

wall of the outhouse speaks to a certain

degree of hardship or threat. It’s soon

joined by other signs that all is not well:

The letters from Talma’s relations are

fraught, she’s having strange dreams

about goats, and the chickens seem to

have disappeared.

The letters – the vehicle for the

world’s broader story – can veer

into telling rather than showing,

their artificiality breaking the

delicate spell cast by the gradual

changes in Talma’s world. But balancing

necessary tasks, your own desires, and

any tiny change in resources creates a

really interesting slow-burning tension.

And it looks stunning.

Philippa Warr

The Stillness of the Wild

PREVIEW