Indie games have been a place where I’ve noticed devs love to get the emotional stuff out. Maybe it’s because there’s more freedom to explore deeper themes. I don’t know, but you all seem to love to test me.
And Dancing with Ghosts looks to be yet another game that wants me to feel the pain.
The pain of loss. The power of friendship.
Dancing with Ghosts is a game created by Greg Johnson, the creator of ToeJam and Earl, one of my favorite games from my childhood. He has detailed the origins of the game, which stem from a deeply personal place of pain and loss. The story behind it is incredible, and I recommend reading up on it to get the story in his own words.
Somehow, he found a way to put his grief to work, and out of it came this game. The game is about a young girl named Mai who lost her parents. While dealing with that loss, she befriends a ghost that only she can see. The game centers on performing good deeds for people in town. It’s framed as a narrative cozy life sim.
You play as both Mai and the ghost. Gameplay differs between the two. As Mai, you can help people around the village to earn good Karma, and as the ghost, you can enter people’s minds and relay to Mai what they may need.
It sounds like the connection between Mai, the ghost and the villagers are at the heart of Mai’s journey through grief. And given my own struggles with grief, I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to handle what this game is bringing, but I’m for sure going to play it.
You can wishlist Dancing with Ghosts on Steam now and check out the demo.
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