Where We Remain

Where We Remain is an adventure set on a desert island, shown from a zoomed out, almost top-down view. The content is procedurally-generated and the setup of the island is different for each session. At first glance it seems similar to the 8 and 16 bit Zelda games, but it only borrows that shape to tell its story.

The protagonist is a man and initially no clues are gives as to why he is on the island or what his goals are. He can only be moved around, there are no weapons or other functions, and all of the island can be explored right away. He can collect flowers and enter caves where red ghosts dwell and certain items can be found. By exploring the simple mechanics the player gradually discovers the possibilities in the environment, making the journey more and more dangerous. By gathering certain items additional abilities are provided to explore further, and clues to the history of the island and its inhabitants are provided through notes left behind by a girl on the island who is also stuck there. Players need to interpret these to understand the environment and the motivation of her captors.

Through multiple playthroughs, with different difficulty levels that provide different slices of the story, the events gradually unfold into a classical Greek tragedy, with many layers and twists that move far beyond the accessible appearance. Three different endings can be discovered and all of these provide elements to piece together the complete story, eventually leading to a comprehensive tale.